Citizens
For Legitimate Governmentis a multi-partisan
activist group established to expose the Bush
coup d'etat, and to oppose the Bush
occupation in all of its manifestations.

August
2008 Archives, Page Two

History
echoes all around as Obama steps up to big speech 28 Aug 2008
On a historic day echoing the dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and
John F. Kennedy, Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday became the first
African-American to accept a major-party presidential nomination and
immediately set a JFK-like goal: to end America’s dependence on Middle
East oil within 10 years.

Text
of Barack Obama's acceptance speech --Barack Obama's speech
Thursday accepting the Democratic Party's nomination for president,
as prepared for delivery 28 Aug 2008 Tonight, I say to the American
people, to Democrats and Republicans and Independents across this great
land - enough! This moment - this election - is our chance to keep,
in the 21st century, the American promise alive. Because next week,
in Minnesota, the same party that brought you two terms of George Bush
and Dick Cheney will ask this country for a third. And we are here because
we love this country too much to let the next four years look like the
last eight. On November 4th, we must stand up and say: "Eight is enough."

Gore
Rallies Convention Delegates With Call for Change 28 Aug 2008
Former President Al Gore issued a ringing call this evening for a change
of direction in the nation's policies and castigated those who defend
the status quo in his speech at Invesco Field on the final night of
the Democratic National Convention. "Why is this election so close?"
Gore asked the more than 70,000 people gathered at the football stadium
the Denver Broncos call home. "I believe this election is close today
because the forces of the status quo are desperately afraid of the change
Obama represents."

Gore
compares Obama to Lincoln 28 Aug 2008 Former President Al Gore
compared Barack Obama to a past president who opponents claimed was
inexperienced, but led the country through a time of change and helped
heal deep divisions: Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, a Republican, had spent
eight years in the Illinois statehouse and a term in Congress when he
was elected president, service almost identical to Obama's. "The experience
Lincoln's supporters valued most in that race was his powerful ability
to inspire hope in the future at a time of impasse," Gore said. "In
2008, once again, we find ourselves at the end of an era with a mandate
from history to launch another new beginning. And once again, we have
a candidate whose experience perfectly matches an extraordinary moment
of transition," he said.

Transcript:
Al Gore's speech at Invesco Field --Former President Al Gore
spoke Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention events at
Invesco Field in Denver, Colorado. 28 Aug 2008 Today, we face essentially
the same choice we faced in 2000, though it may be even more obvious
now, because John McCain, a man who has earned our respect on many levels,
is now openly endorsing the policies of the Bush-Cheney White House
and promising to actually continue them, the same policies all over
again. Hey, I believe in recycling, but that's ridiculous.

Democratic
National Convention: Biden makes surprise speaking appearance
28 Aug 2008 Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden has made
an unscheduled appearance at Invesco Field, touting the "open convention"
at Denver's football stadium. Biden told the delegates: "We're here
for the millions of Americans who have been knocked down, to send a
message together to send a message that we're going to get back up as
a nation."

Chalabi
aide arrested on suspicion of Baghdad bombings 28 Aug 2008 U.S.
forces have arrested a deputy of Ahmad Chalabi, who was once the Bush
regime's favorite Iraqi politician, and implicated him in bombings that
killed Americans and Iraqis, Chalabi and Iraqi government officials
said Thursday. The U.S. military alleged that the arrested official
[Ali Faisal al Lami] was working with the "highest echelons" of the
Iranian "special groups" criminals, referring to what the U.S. military
says are Iranian-backed militias operating in Iraq. Chalabi once had
an enormous following among conservatives in Congress and the Bush administration.
Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney and the Pentagon touted him as a
potential head of state in Iraq and used intelligence from his exile
group, the Iraqi National Congress, to build the case for invading Iraq.
However, much of that information was found to be bogus [like
the Bush regime, itself].

US
spending 'more money than ever' on contractors in Iraq
28 Aug 2008 The United States is spending more money than ever on private
security contractors in Iraq. This year, spending on mercenaries, who
protect diplomats, civilian facilities and supply convoys, is projected
to exceed $1.2 billion, according to federal contract and budget data
obtained by USA TODAY. Most of that bill -- about $1 billion -- is State
Department spending, which is up 13% over 2007. The remaining $200 million
covers Pentagon contracts.

2
in military accused of taking bribes for contracts 28 Aug 2008
Two U.S. military personnel and several contractors allegedly exchanged
nearly $100,000 to arrange contracts worth more than $1 million at Bagram
Airfield in Afghanistan, according to bribery and conspiracy indictments
unsealed Wednesday. The two military personnel and a co-conspirator
allegedly accepted three payments of $30,000, one payment for each of
three Department of Defense contracts, according to the indictments
unsealed at U.S. District Court in Chicago.

KBR
sued for forcing Nepalese workers to Iraq 28 Aug 2008 One of
America's biggest military contractors is being sued by a Nepali labourer
and the families of a dozen other employees who say they were taken
against their will to work in Iraq. All but one of the Nepalese
workers were subsequently kidnapped and murdered. According to the lawsuit
filed in Los Angeles, the Nepalese workers were recruited in 2004 in
their home country by KBR and its Jordanian contractors, Daoud & Partners,
to work as kitchen staff in a luxury hotel in Amman. Once they reached
the Jordanian capital, however, their passports were taken from them
and they were sent to Iraq. While travelling in an unprotected convoy,
the Nepalis were kidnapped and later executed.

DynCorp
awarded $18.1M contract in Afghanistan
--DynCorp awarded $18.1 million contract for latest construction
project in Afghanistan 26 Aug 2008 Government contractor DynCorp
International Inc. said Tuesday it has been awarded an $18.1 million
contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for a construction project
in Afghanistan. The company will build facilities for the Afghanistan
National Civil Order Police in the country's Helmand province, including
offices, living and operational facilities, motor pool guard towers
and a perimeter wall for 305 police personnel with the Patrol Unit Brigade
Headquarters and Patrol Battalion. [See:
US:
DynCorp Disgrace By Kelly Patricia O'Meara 14 Jan 2002 "Middle-aged
men having sex with 12- to 15-year-olds was too much for
Ben Johnston, a hulking 6-foot-5-inch Texan, and more than a year ago
he blew the whistle on his employer, DynCorp, a U.S. contracting company
doing business in Bosnia.]

House
Oversight Chair Henry Waxman Calls for Cancellation of Blackwater's
Contract in Iraq 28 Aug 2008 In an exclusive interview with
Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill, Congressman Henry
Waxman, chair of the powerful House Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, calls on Sen. Barack Obama to cancel the private military
firm Blackwater’s Iraq contract if Obama is elected president. Serious
questions remain about what Obama will do with this massive private
shadow army in Iraq. [Obama
better kick them out, like Hillary tried
to do.]

Blackwater-linked
firm to train Canadian troops 27 Aug 2008 Canadian soldiers
could get training from a U.S. company closely linked to Blackwater
USA, a private security firm mercenaries implicated in the killings
of hundreds of Iraqi civilians, if the Department of National Defence
has its way. The military gave notice this week of its intention to
award an $850,000 contract for advanced counterinsurgency training to
the Terrorism Research Center, a Virginia-based firm that specializes
in terrorism training for military and law enforcement officials. The
counterinsurgency school, which boasts close links to the U.S. government,
is listed as a branch of Total Intelligence Solutions, a company that
is run by former director of CIA counterterrorism Cofer Black and Erik
Prince, a former U.S. Navy Seal.

Federal
jury acquits ex-Marine in Iraqis' deaths
--Verdict is the first time a civilian jury has weighed in on the
law of war 28 Aug 2008 A former Marine accused of killing unarmed
Iraqi detainees was acquitted of voluntary manslaughter Thursday in
a first-of-its-kind federal trial. The jury took six hours to find Jose
Luis Nazario Jr. not guilty of charges that he killed or caused others
to kill four unarmed detainees on Nov. 9, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq, during
some of the fiercest fighting of the war.

Iraq
and China agree to $3 billion oil service deal 27 Aug 2008 Iraq
and China have agreed the terms of a $3 billion oil service contract,
Iraq's oil minister said on Wednesday, announcing the first major oil
contract with a foreign firm since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Leaked
UK report damns Iraq war planning By Julian Assange 05 Aug 2008
A leaked UK military report into the Iraq war released to the public
by Wikileaks. The sensitive 108
page report, written in late 2006, damns UK and US war planning,
which "ran counter to potential Geneva Convention obligations" -- and
lead directly to the post invasion collapse of Iraqi society: "leaders
should not start an operation without thinking...it is not enough just
to identify the desired end-state". The report reveals that Whitehall
had been secretly planning the war during 2002... Although
the UK wanted UN security council approval, the UK found itself roped
to a US ideological agenda and timetable: "the UK had to work to
a timetable and strong ideological views set in the United States. As
one Senior Officer put it: 'the train was in Grand Central Station,
and was leaving at a time which we did not control.'" The combined
secrecy and ideology was a planning disaster that directly lead to the
collapse of Iraqi society. The report argues the result was a breach
of Geneva convention obligations, for which coalition governments are
legally responsible. The US attitude to human rights and "collateral
damage" also bothered the UK military. As did the way the United States
interrogated ("debriefed") detainees.

Afghan
President pardons men convicted of bayonet gang rape 24 Aug
2008 The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, has pardoned three men who
had been found guilty of gang raping a woman in the northern province
of Samangan. The woman, Sara, and her family found out about the pardon
only when they saw the rapists back in their village. The men were freed
discreetly but the rape itself was public and brutal.

Russia
wins backing from China 28 Aug 2008 Russia today won support
from China and Central Asian states in its standoff with the West over
the Georgia conflict as the European Union said it was weighing sanctions
against Moscow. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the
"united position'' of a summit of Central Asian nations would "serve
as a serious signal to those who try to turn black into white."

Russia
to respond militarily to U.S. missile shield
27 Aug 2008 Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said Russia will have
to respond militarily to the deployment of elements of a U.S. missile
shield in Central Europe. The deal to place 10 interceptor missiles
in Poland was reached in mid-August, and followed the signing of an
agreement on July 8 by the U.S. and Czech foreign ministries to place
a U.S. radar in the Czech Republic.

'We
can see a rehearsal for an attack on Iran.'Russian
analyst points to link between Georgian attack and Iran
27 Aug 2008 A senior Russian military analyst said on Wednesday that
the U.S. and NATO by arming Tbilisi used the conflict in Georgia as
a dress rehearsal for a future military operation in Iran. Col. Gen
Leonid Ivashov, president of the Academy of Geopolitical Studies, told
a news conference at RIA Novosti, "We are close to a serious conflict
- U.S. and NATO preparations on a strategic scale are ongoing. In the
operation the West conducted on Georgian soil against Russia - South
Ossetians were the victims or hostages of it - we can see a rehearsal
for an attack on Iran. There is a great deal of "new features" that
today are being fine tuned in the theater of military operations."

Putin:
US orchestrated conflict in Georgia 28 Aug 2008 Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin accused the United States on Thursday of pushing
Georgia toward war and said he suspects a connection to the U.S. presidential
campaign -- a contention the [lying sacks of sh*t at the] White House
dismissed as "patently false." In another sign of unraveling Russia-U.S.
ties, Putin said that 19 U.S. poultry producers will be barred from
exporting their products to Russia.

Prosecutors
seek to slash Abramoff prison term 27 Aug 2008 The 'Justice'
Department on Wednesday recommended a dramatic reduction in the prison
sentence of imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who became the key witness
against lawmakers and congressional aides he spent years corrupting.
Prosecutors asked federal judges in Washington and Florida to shave
years of prison time off his sentence, citing his work in an FBI investigation
that sent numerous powerful people to prison and contributed to the
Republican Party's loss of Congress.

Warning
on voting machines reveals oversight failure
--The federal Election Assistance Administration, created in 2002,
took over the testing responsibility in 2005, but has yet to certify
a single voting machine. 24 Aug 2008 Disclosure of an election computer
glitch that could drop ballot totals for entire precincts is stirring
new worries that an unofficial laboratory testing system failed for
years to detect an array of flaws in $1.5 billion worth of voting equipment
sold nationwide since 2003. Texas-based Premier Elections Solutions
last week alerted at least 1,750 jurisdictions across the country that
special precautions are needed to address the problem in tabulation
software affecting all 19 of its models dating back a decade. Computer
scientists, some state officials and election watchdog groups allege
that the NASED-sponsored testing system was a recipe for disaster, shrouded
in secrecy, and allowing equipment makers to help design the tests.

Foreign
journalists flock to Denver 28 Aug 2008 The nomination of Barack
Obama isn’t just America’s story. More than 2,000 foreign journalists
have flocked to Denver to cover the Democratic National Convention.

Dems
choose Obama in thunderous acclamation 28 Aug 2008 Barack Obama
stepped triumphantly into history Wednesday night, the first black American
to win a major party presidential nomination, as thousands of Democrats
transformed their convention hall into a joyful, shouting celebration.
Former rival Hillary Rodham Clinton asked delegates to the party convention
to make their verdict unanimous "in the spirit of unity, with the
goal of victory." And they did, with a roar. Competing chants of
"Obama" and "Yes we can" surged up from the convention
floor as the outcome of a carefully scripted roll call of the states
was announced.

Biden
formally nominated for No. 2 Democratic spot 27 Aug 2008 Veteran
Sen. Joe Biden accepted the Democratic vice presidential nomination
on Wednesday and hailed running mate Barack Obama as a wise leader who
will take the United States in a new direction and out of the Iraq war.
Biden heaped praise on the first-term senator, who will accept the party's
nomination as presidential candidate in a speech in Denver on Thursday,
as an inspirational force for needed change.

Transcript:
Joe Biden
--Remarks as prepared for delivery to the Democratic National Convention
on Wednesday night by Sen. Joe Biden. 27 Aug 2008

Iraq
veterans endorse Obama 27 Aug 2008 Iraq war veterans brought
their military credibility to the podium on Wednesday and endorsed Sen.
Barack Obama as the best candidate to lead the military and help veterans.
Seeking to bolster Obama's credentials on security issues, Obama was
formally nominated at the Democratic convention by Michael Wilson, 33,
of Melbourne, Fla., an Air Force medic who served in Iraq. Wilson, a
Republican, said Obama has wisdom and courage "to talk to our enemies
and consult with our allies."

3,000
march in largest demonstration of DNC 27 Aug 2008 Marching behind
a police vehicle that flashed the words "Follow Us. Welcome to Denver."
on an electronic sign, at least 3,000 Iraq war veterans and anti-war
protesters made their way through downtown Denver on Wednesday during
the largest demonstration of the Democratic National Convention to date.

Rove
tried to kill Lieberman VP pick 27 Aug 2008 Republican strategist
Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (R-Israel) late last week
and urged him to contact Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to withdraw his
name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources
familiar with the conversation. Lieberman dismissed the request, these
sources agreed.

Oracle's
Ellison Earns Scrutiny With 38% Pay Raise 28 Aug 2008 Oracle
Corp. founder Larry Ellison, the fourth-richest man in America, is drawing
criticism from some shareholders for a $72 million pay package that's
12 times bigger than the median pay of CEOs in the technology industry.

Industry
groups file lawsuit over polar bear rule [F*ckers] 28 Aug 2008
Five industry groups have sued the Interior Department over a rule to
protect the polar bear that they say unfairly singles out business operations
in Alaska for their contribution to global warming. Groups representing
the oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing industries asked a federal
judge Wednesday to ensure that laws designed to protect the bear, which
was recently designated a threatened species, are not used to block
projects that release heat-trapping gases in the state.

FEMA
rapped for denying flood aid to Rensselaer
28 Aug 2008 (NY) City and Rensselaer County officials criticized the
Federal Emergency Management Agency for saying the city doesn't have
enough damage from its Aug. 11 floods to qualify for assistance. "It
looks like Hurricane Katrina isn't the only things FEMA has screwed
up," County Legislator Michael Stammel, R-Rensselaer, said.

New
Orleans Braces as Gustav Set to Follow Katrina 28 Aug 2008 Almost
three years to the day after Katrina FEMA devastated New Orleans,
disaster-response officials are bracing for Tropical Storm Gustav's
projected landfall there as forecasters predict it will strengthen into
a major hurricane.

Gustav
kills nearly 70 in Caribbean, aims at U.S. 28 Aug 2008 Tropical
Storm Gustav was blamed on Thursday for at least 68 deaths in the Caribbean
and U.S. forecasters said it could hit New Orleans and Gulf of Mexico
oil fields as a potentially powerful hurricane next week.

*****

'I
have great concern that these hearings will be virtually or exclusively
classified, closed to the public and, I might add, to the detainees.'Judge
fears secret hearings over Guantanamo Bay
27 Aug 2008 A federal judge [U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon] overseeing
cases against dozens of Guantanamo Bay prisoners said Wednesday that
he fears the public -- and the prisoners themselves -- will be locked
out of the courtroom when evidence in the case is scrutinized for the
first time. Hundreds of prisoners are awaiting hearings in a Washington
federal court in the coming months to determine whether they were properly
labeled enemy combatants and imprisoned without being charged.

U.S.
Officers Executed Iraqis, Statements Say --After removing
the blindfolds and handcuffs, the three soldiers shoved the four bodies
into the canal. 26 Aug 2008 In March or April 2007, three noncommissioned
United States Army officers, including a first sergeant, a platoon sergeant
and a senior medic, killed four Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots
to the head as the men stood handcuffed and blindfolded beside a
Baghdad canal, two of the soldiers said in sworn statements. After the
murders, the first sergeant told the other two to remove the men’s bloody
blindfolds and plastic handcuffs, according to the statements made to
Army investigators, which were obtained by The New York Times.

Top
U.S. Marine sees shift from Iraq to Afghanistan 27 Aug 2008
The top U.S. Marine officer on Wednesday said he could reduce his 25,000-strong
force in the former al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] stronghold of Iraq's Anbar
province to reinforce military operations against a growing Taliban
threat in Afghanistan. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway told
reporters the once-restive province west of Baghdad could be turned
over to Iraqi security control within days, thanks to the sharp decline
in violence after [bribed] Sunni tribal leaders switched allegiance
from al Qaeda to the U.S. military.

US
and Russian warships line up in dispute over Georgia --Russians
unhappy with US for using military craft to deliver 'relief' supplies
27 Aug 2008 US and Russian warships took up positions in the Black
Sea today in a risky war of nerves on opposing sides of the Georgia
conflict. With the Russians effectively controlling Georgia's main naval
base of Poti, Moscow also dispatched the Moskva missile cruiser and
two smaller craft on "peacekeeping" duties at the port of Sukhumi on
the coast of Abkhazia, the breakaway region that the Kremlin recognised
as independent yesterday. The Americans... cancelled the scheduled docking
in Poti of the US Coast Guard vessel, the Dallas, and instead sent it
to the southern Georgian-controlled port of Batumi, 200km (124 miles)
from the Russian ships, where it delivered 'humanitarian' aid.

David
Miliband tells Russia it must avoid starting a new Cold War
27 Aug 2008 David Miliband launched one of his strongest attacks on
Russia when he told the Kremlin it has a "big responsibility" to avoid
a new Cold War. During an official visit to Ukraine, the British Foreign
Secretary accused Russia of trying to "redraw the map" of Europe by
recognising Georgia's breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
[The US, Israel and Georgia are dying to start a hot one, preferably
before the 2008 'elections.']

North
Korea to Stay on Terrorism Blacklist, U.S. Says 27 Aug 2008
North Korea will stay on a U.S. terrorism blacklist until a mechanism
is in place to verify its nuclear dossier, the White House said, after
the government said it stopped disabling a reactor to protest a delay
in its removal.

Electronic
binoculars from Northrop Grumman to detect threats through brain activity
23 Aug. 2008 Everyone who has ever watched the Star Wars films has probably
at one moment wished they had Jedi abilities such as mind control or
what Lucas called Jedi reflexes – knowing something will happen a second
before it does. A team led by Northrop
Grumman's Electronic Systems Sector is looking to bring a similar
threat detection capability to warfighters as part of an advanced research
contract to develop a panoramic day/night optical system that will utilize
human brain activity to detect, analyze, and alert foot-soldiers to
possible threats.

Bush
steps up fight over US congressional authority
27 Aug 2008 The Bush administration is raising the stakes in a court
fight that could change the balance of power between the White House
and the U.S. Congress. Justice Department lawyers said Wednesday that
they will soon ask a federal appeals court not to force the president's
top advisers to comply with congressional subpoenas next month. President
[sic] George W. Bush argues Congress does not have the authority to
demand information from his aides.

White
House cannot delay aides' testimony: judge 26 Aug 2008 A U.S.
judge ruled against the Bush regime in its fight with Congress over
a probe into the firings of U.S. attorneys by refusing on Tuesday to
delay an order that current and former White House aides comply with
congressional subpoenas. Federal judge John Bates ruled that he would
not put off his July order that former White House counsel Harriet Miers
testify to Congress, and that Chief of Staff Josh Bolten surrender documents
related to the 2006 firings. He said on Tuesday that the administration
had failed to make its case that the order should be delayed while the
administration appeals it.

Clinton
forcefully endorses Obama 28 Aug 2008 Former President Bill
Clinton forcefully endorsed Barack Obama's bid for the White House on
Wednesday, telling delegates to the Democratic convention that Obama
is "ready to lead America and restore American leadership in the world."
"With Joe Biden's experience and wisdom, supporting Barack Obama's proven
understanding, insight, and good instincts, America will have the national
security leadership we need," Clinton said.

Clinton
praises Obama in convention speech --Clinton receives prolonged
standing ovation as convention speech begins 27 Aug 2008 Former
President Bill Clinton declared Barack Obama "ready to be president
of the United States" at the Democratic National Convention Wednesday.
"Last night Hillary told us in no uncertain terms that she is going
to do everything in her power to elect Barack Obama," Clinton said of
his wife, who ran against Obama for the Democratic nomination and urged
her backers Tuesday night to support him. "That makes two of us -- actually
that makes 18 million of us," he said, a reference to the number of
Democratic primary voters who backed Hillary Clinton.

Transcript:
Bill Clinton
--Remarks as prepared for delivery to the Democratic National Convention
on Wednesday by former President Bill Clinton. 27 Aug 2008 'Now, in
spite of all the evidence, their candidate is promising more of the
same: More tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that will swell the
deficit, increase inequality, and weaken the economy. More band-aids
for health care that will enrich insurance companies, impoverish families
and increase the number of uninsured. More going it alone in the world,
instead of building the shared responsibilities and shared opportunities
necessary to advance our security and restore our influence. They actually
want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four
more. Let's send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all
across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time
is not the charm.'

In
Historic Vote, Obama Officially Claims Democratic Nomination
27 Aug 2008 With the weight of history hanging over them, Hillary Rodham
Clinton and the Democratic Party formally chose Sen. Barack Obama as
the nominee for the White House, elevating the first African American
to that exalted post and putting a black man a step from the presidency.
With a theatrical flourish, the roll call vote was rushed to allow Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton to suspend the vote and "in the spirit of unity,
with the goal of victory," declare Obama the nominee by acclamation.
"With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with
the goal of victory," Clinton said, "with faith in our party and our
country, let's declare together with one voice right here, right now
that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president."

Obama
Secures Historic Nomination 27 Aug 2008 Senator Barack Obama,
the Hawaiian-born son of a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas,
officially became the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party on
Wednesday, capping a meteoric rise from a little-known state senator
to the first African-American to win a major-party nomination.

Clinton
releases delegates 27 Aug 2008 Sen. Hillary Clinton released
her delegates Wednesday afternoon, allowing those who had been pledged
to her to vote for whomever they choose in a roll call vote later in
the day. "This was such a competitive primary season," Clinton told
her delegates in a packed ballroom at the Denver Convention Center,
"I want you to know this has been a joy. Boy did we have a good time
trying."

Nazi
link in 'plot to assassinate Obama' --In the back of the
vehicle, officers found two high-powered rifles,
one with telescopic sights, a spotting scope, a flak jacket,
camouflage clothing, a bulletproof vest, boxes
of ammunition, three fake identity cards, two wigs, two walkie-talkies
and a quantity of the drug methamphetamine, a form of speed known as
crystal meth. 27
Aug 2008 The three men arrested over a reported plot to kill the US
Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, have ties to the white
supremacist group Aryan Nations, police said last night. Shawn Robert
Adolf, 33, Nathan Johnson and Tharin Gartrell are all said to have links
to the group. Adolf – his real name according to police – and the others
were arrested on weapons charges after an apparent move to assassinate
Mr Obama during his party's convention in Denver this week. The US
authorities are playing down the ability of the arrested men to carry
out an assassination amid tight security.
Prosecutors yesterday said they had evidence to charge the three men
only with drugs and firearms offences. [Why weren't these
alleged TERRORISTS charged under any of Bush's 9 million TERRORISM laws?!
If you're a Muslim, you're arrested for viewing 'radical' webpages on
your seized laptop. Reichwing TERRORISTS get a free pass from the Bush
regime. --LRP]

Lawyers
Guild: Cops illegally seize video equipment 26 Aug 2008 Three
New York videographers, in town to document police conduct for the Republican
National Convention, are alleging Minneapolis police illegally seized
their video equipment early this morning. The attorney for the videographers,
part of a prominent group [Glass Bead Collective] that documents police
activities during rallies and demonstrations, said he suspects the seizure
is "a pre-emptive strike" by authorities.

No
water or toilets at Freedom Cage
27 Aug 2008 The vast unused Freedom Cage for protesters at the Pepsi
Center has no water or toilets in apparent violation of a federal judge’s
order. U.S. District Judge Marcia Krieger issued an order Aug. 6 that
set conditions for the protest zone and resolved an ACLU lawsuit against
the city and U.S. Secret Service over security restrictions.

ABC
Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors--Asa Eslocker Was Investigating the Role of Lobbyists and Top
Donors at the Convention 27 Aug 2008 Police in Denver arrested an
ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take
pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors
leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel. A police official
later told lawyers for ABC News that producer Asa Eslocker is being
charged with trespass, interference, and failure to follow a lawful
order. [Will we see Asa 'investigating' GOP top donors (every corpora-terrorist
on God's green earth) at the Repugnant Nazi Convention?]

'No
way. No how. No McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate.'
27 Aug 2008 Hillary Clinton: "I haven't spent the past 35 years
in the trenches, advocating for children, campaigning for universal
health care, helping parents balance work and family, and fighting for
women's rights here at home and around the world to see another Republican
in the White House squander our promise of a country that really fulfills
the hopes of our people. And you haven't worked so hard over the last
18 months or endured the last eight years to suffer through more failed
leadership. No way, no how, no McCain. Barack Obama is my candidate,
and he must be our president."

Clinton
Urges Supporters to Give Allegiance to Obama 27 Aug 2008 Hillary
Clinton asked her supporters last night to put aside any idea of voting
for Republican John McCain and instead back her former rival for the
Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama. "Whether you
voted for me, or you voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a
single party with a single purpose," Clinton said at the Democratic
National Convention in Denver. Americans can't afford another Republican
in the White House, she said: "No way. No how. No McCain."

Hillary
smacks convention speech out of the park By Michael Goodwin
25 Aug 2008 Barack Obama just lost his biggest excuse. Now he can't
blame Hillary [Clinton] for any of his problems. She hit a home run
for him Tuesday night. It was a big-time performance when it mattered
most, and she delivered without reservation... The stars were aligned
for a marriage of political convenience, and she pronounced her vows
with dignity, humor and gusto. Her speech
was a genuine twofer, good for her and good for the man who bested her
in the long, bitter primary.

Clinton's
Thankless Job By Marie Cocco 26 Aug 2008 If there is a political
job more fraught with peril than running to become the next commander
in chief, surely it is being cast as cheerleader in chief... The work
of the next phase of [Hillary] Clinton's career has been going on doggedly,
and often with little notice, since she suspended her campaign on June
7. She's been a campaign emissary for Obama to the Sheet Metal Workers
union; to Hispanics and others in New Mexico and Nevada; to older women
in South Florida who still haven't quite accepted the loss of what for
some of them may be their last chance to see a woman elected president.

McCain
Owes America An Alzheimer's Test By Bob Fertik 26 Aug 2008 [John]
McCain's medical records are not available to physicians. He did not
"release" them for the campaign; he only allowed hand-picked reporters
to examine them quickly without making copies. And there were no results
of an Alzheimer's test, because McCain has never had one - even though
he
has 6 of the 10 warning signs, including his inability to remember
facts like the number of homes he owns or the U.S.
invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Obama
camp: Prosecute Simmons 26 Aug 2008 Obama general counsel Bob
Bauer today sent a second,
sharper letter to the Justice Department, directly attacking the
Dallas billionaire funding a harsh attack ad, Harold Simmons. "We reiterate
our request that the Department of Justice fulfill its commitment to
take prompt action to investigate and to prosecute the American issues
Project, and we further request that the Department of Justice investigate
and prosecute Howard (sic) Simmons for a knowing and willful violation
of the individual aggregate contribution limits," he wrote. He called
the group's activities "patently illegal."

Mega
barf alert!Giuliani
Visits Terrorism Exhibit Near Democratic Convention 26 Aug 2008
CBS News: Rudy Giuliani made an appearance just around the corner from
the Democratic National Convention in Denver today at a nearby exhibit
on terrorist attacks. "People forget...this is ongoing," Giuliani
said, referring to a threat of [Bush] terrorist attacks in the United
States and worldwide. "This is a museum about what is happening
to us now, the present, and what will be happening to us in the future."

McCain
Has Made His Pick and Is Set to Tell on Friday 27 Aug 2008 Senator
John McCain has decided on his running mate, two Republican strategists
in contact with Mr. McCain’s campaign said Wednesday. He is expected
to reveal his choice at a rally at a basketball arena in Dayton, Ohio,
at 11 a.m. Friday.

Police
were wrong to stop pensioner under Terrorism Act 27 Aug 2008
Police were wrong to use anti-terrorism powers to stop and search an
elderly peace activist wearing an anti-Tony Blair top during a Labour
party conference, a watchdog has ruled. John Catt, 83, was stopped by
officers while on his way to join a protest for the release of former
Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Deghayes outside the Brighton conference
in 2005.

Louisiana
eyes Gustav, activates National Guard troops 27 Aug 2008 On
the eve of Hurricane Katrina's third anniversary, a nervous New Orleans
watched Wednesday as another storm threatened to test everything the
city has rebuilt, and officials made preliminary plans to evacuate people,
pets and hospitals in an attempt to avoid a KatrinaFEMA-style
chaos. Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) declared a state of emergency to lay the
groundwork for federal assistance, and put 3,000 National Guard troops
on standby.

New
Orleans mulls evacuation as Gustav looms 27 Aug 2008 Three years
after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Louisiana coast, New Orleans
residents on Wednesday again confronted the prospect of an evacuation
as Tropical Storm Gustav loomed.

Arctic
sea ice drops to 2nd lowest level on record --Sea ice also
serves as primary habitat for threatened polar bears. 27 Aug 2008
More ominous signs Wednesday have scientists saying that a global warming
"tipping point" in the Arctic seems to be happening before their eyes:
Sea ice in the Arctic Ocean is at its second lowest level in about 30
years. TWith about three weeks left in the Arctic summer, this year
could wind up breaking that previous [Sept. 2007] record, scientists
said.

Polar
bear euthanized 26 Aug 2008 Yugyan, a 22-year-old female polar
bear at the Oregon Zoo, was euthanized Tuesday. Yugyan was diagnosed
with kidney failure a year ago and the zoo staff had tried to manage
the bear's pain. Polar bears are listed as an endangered species. The
Oregon Zoo and other conservation organizations have been increasingly
alarmed about the effects
of global warming on polar bears.

*****

Afghanistan
demands end to Nato air strikes on villagers --UN backs Karzai
concerns over loss of civilian life in allied raids 26 Aug 2008
Tensions increased today between Afghanistan's president, Hamid Karzai,
and US and Nato troops, with the government ordering a review of foreign
military activities amid claims that dozens of civilians have died in
raids and air strikes over the past week. The ministries of foreign
affairs and defence said they would seek to regulate raids with a status
of forces agreement and a negotiated end to "air strikes on civilian
targets, uncoordinated house searches and illegal detention of Afghan
civilians".

U.N.
says has evidence US-led air strikes killed 90 Afghan civilians
26 Aug 2008 The United Nations said on Tuesday it had found convincing
evidence that 90 Afghan civilians, most of them children, were killed
in air strikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in western Afghanistan last
week. "Investigations by UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in
Afghanistan) found convincing evidence, based on the testimony of eyewitnesses,
and others, that some 90 civilians were killed, including 60 children,
15 women and 15 men," U.N. Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said
in a statement.

Bombers
kill dozens as violence erupts in Iraq
--One of the blasts targets police recruits; another explosion kills
family 26 Aug 2008 Three blasts killed at least 34 Iraqis on Tuesday,
most of them in a suicide car bombing that struck a group of police
recruits, officials said. It was one of the highest daily casualty tolls
in recent months. Two of the bombs went off in Diyala province... In
the provincial town of Jalula, an assailant drove a car toward a building
where new police recruits had assembled, said Col. Ahmed Mahmoud Khalifa,
the local police chief. [Holy coincidence,
Batman! The minute al
Maliki demands a firm TIMETABLE for US withdrawal, bombs explode
as if to provide fodder for the US terrorists who want an open-ended
occupation. I wonder who's really behind the bombings? --LRP]

11
terrorism suspects detained in Iraq 25 Aug 2008 Eleven suspected
terrorists have been taken into custody by occupation troops in Iraq,
including four allegedly planning to use poison, officials said Monday.
The four men suspected of planning poison attacks were captured Sunday
in Beiji, south of Mosul, American Forces Press Service said.

U.S.
holding 11-year-old American son of suspected Pakistani militant in
Afghanistan
26 Aug 2008 U.S. officials say the 11-year-old American son of a suspected
Pakistani militant is being held by authorities in Afghanistan. Assfia
Siddiqui's son, Ahmed, is a U.S. citizen by birth and has been in Afghan
custody since July when his mother was arrested after a shootout with
Afghan police in Ghanzi, the Washington Post said Tuesday. Siddiqui,
a neuroscientist who had been sought as a suspected al-Qaida [al-CIAduh]
operative since 2003, is currently lodged in a U.S. federal prison.

Ex-Guantanamo
prisoners appeal to US Supreme Court 25 Aug 2008 Four Britons
released from Guantanamo in 2004 after two years' detention, requested
the US Supreme Court to rule on the right of prisoners "to worship and
... not to be tortured." If the high court takes the case, it will have
to decide whether war-on-terror prisoners have additional constitutional
rights besides the right to challenge their detention in civilian court,
as was confirmed in a June Supreme Court ruling.

U.S.
terrorism experts to teach troops [To do more, or?] Soldiers
need more specialized instruction on what drives 'insurgents' and how
population thinks, Ottawa says 26 Aug 2008 The federal government
is hiring U.S. terrorism experts to deepen Canadian soldiers' understanding
of how their Taliban enemies think - saying it needs to prepare troops
better as they wage a counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan. Ottawa announced
that it is bypassing the normal route for contracting and awarding the
job to Arlington, Va.-based Terrorism Research Center on a sole-source
basis, saying it's the only firm capable of doing the job. The one-year
contract has a maximum annual payout of $848,250 (U.S.), but may be
extended.

Will
the US Develop a Death Ray?
21 Aug 2008 For about $1 billion, over the next three years, the nation
could convert some Trident missiles -- now limited to carrying nuclear
warheads in their submarine launchers -- to non-nuclear weapons. The
plan favored by the National Research Council (NRC) panel would replace
two of the 24 nuclear missiles on each of the Navy's 12 Trident subs
with conventional-armed missiles. The plan backed by the panel calls
for putting up to four non-explosive "dispersible kinetic energy projectiles"
atop each missile. It's not [Really?] quite a "death ray" but it's the
closest
existing technology can get to that fantasy weapon.

Dimitri
Medvedev raises spectre of new Cold War 26 Aug 2008 Russia's
president said today he was ready for the start of a new Cold War, as
he set tensions with the West soaring by recognizing the independence
of two breakaway republics inside Georgia. "We are not afraid of
anything, including the prospect of a Cold War," said Dimitri Medvedev,
after ordering his foreign ministry to start work on establishing diplomatic
ties with the secessionist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

North
Korea to suspend nuclear disablement 26 Aug 2008 North Korea
said on Tuesday it will stop disabling its nuclear facilities and consider
restoring the Yongbyon reactor that can make material for atomic bombs,
accusing the United States of violating a disarmament deal. "We have
decided to immediately suspend disabling our nuclear facilities," the
North's KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying.

Fourth
Blackburn man arrested over threat to kill Gordon Brown26
Aug 2008 A 25-year-old man was being questioned today over threats to
kill Gordon Brown and Tony Blair after he was arrested on terrorism
charges. The man is the fourth resident of Blackburn to be arrested
this month in connection with posting a death threat on a recognised
jihadi website. Specialist officers were continuing to carry out searches
this morning in the Whalley Range area of the town, where a police van
was seen parked outside an Islamic bookshop.

Barack
Obama 'ought to be shot' says racist plotter -Secret Service,
FBI and US Joint Terrorism Task Force are all investigating alleged
plot and more arrests could follow 26 Aug 2008 A man at the centre
of a suspected assassination plot against Senator Barack Obama has said
that the presidential candidate "ought to be shot" because of his colour.
The chilling threat by Nathan Johnson, 33, followed his arrest with
two other men when an arms cache was found in a pick-up truck. The men,
one of whom is said to have strong ties to the white supremacist movement,
were last night under investigation and facing initial charges for illegal
firearms possession.

FBI
investigates 'Obama assassination plot' 26 Aug 2008 The FBI
and the US Secret Service were investigating a possible assassination
plot against Barack Obama today after four people linked to white supremacist
groups and in possession of high-powered rifles were arrested near the
Democratic convention in Denver. In an extraordinary jail cell interview
with a local television reporter, one of the suspects said that his
associates had planned to assassinate Mr Obama as he accepted the Democratic
presidential nomination in an open-air sports stadium on Thursday night.
That suspect, Nathan Johnson, 32, also allegedly told police that the
plan had been to shoot Mr Obama “from a high vantage point using a rifle
sighted at 750 yards”.

Plot
to Kill Obama: Shoot From High Vantage Point --Sources say
Shawn Robert Adolph was wearing a swastika, and is thought to have ties
to white supremacist organizations. 26
Aug 2008 CBS4 has learned at least four people are under arrest in connection
with a possible plot to kill Barack Obama at his Thursday night acceptance
speech in Denver. All are being held on either drug or weapons charges.
CBS4's Brian Maass reported one of the suspects told authorities they
were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle
… sighted at 750 yards." Law enforcement sources tell Maass that one
of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill
Obama. He responded in the affirmative." The Secret Service, FBI, ATF
and the joint terrorism task force are all investigating the alleged
plot.

Obama
assassination plot fears as armed men arrested 26 Aug 2008 US
police were investigating tonight if they had disrupted an assassination
plot against Barack Obama after two men were arrested near the Democratic
convention in Denver with two rifles, a high-powered telescopic scope
and the powerful stimulant methamphetamine. The men were arrested in
a routine incident involving a traffic policeman. The first man,Tharin
Gartrell, was charged with suspicion of being a felon in possession
of a weapon after police found the rifles in his car. When police accompanied
Mr Gartrell to his hotel in Denver a second man jumped from a window
and was injured in a four-story fall. That man was then arrested.

Meanwhile
in Minneapolis…police confiscate laptops and video equipment
By GRITtv 26 Aug 2008 From I-Witness Video: "Our colleagues at the Glass
Bead Collective, a group of video artists and documentarians, are in
the Twin Cities to prepare for the Republican National Convention. They
were swarmed by three police cars, detained and had all of their electronic
gear, including laptop computers, videocameras and personal items were
taken from them by Minneapolis police. No one was arrested. The stop
and seizure was explained by police officers as related to Homeland
Security and the Republican Convention."

Police
use pepper spray on 15th Street protesters 26 Aug 2008 Police
armed with sticks and face masks encircled about 70 protesters and used
pepper on 15th Street, about two blocks from the Civic Center. Some
in the protesters sang Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues". The 'anarchists'
are wearing bandannas as protection from the pepper spray as helicopters
and sirens can be heard. However, some protesters were searching for
water to help those who were hit with spray.

DNC:
Quotes from pro-Hillary Clinton march --What they're saying
at the protest/march by 18
Million Voices, which advocates for women's rights and is celebrating
Hillary Clinton's achievements. 26 Aug 2008 Toni Alves, PUMA
member, San Francisco "I’m marching because of the treatment Hillary
received during the primaries. She was treated so unfairly by the media
and the DNC,and no one stood up to say anything about it until after
they’d asked her to leave. And that was ridiculous. The media totally
geared and led this campaign. Obama wasn’t elected, he was selected."

Clinton
Prepares for Center Stage
26 Aug 2008 Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton prepared to take center stage
at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday in one of the most
anticipated moments of the week, even as Republicans intensified their
efforts to crash the Democratic Party’s party.

Michelle
Obama shows her husband's personal side 26 Aug 2008 Michelle
Obama declared "I love this country" Monday as she sought to reassure
the nation that she and her husband Barack share Americans' bedrock
values and belief in a dream of a better future. In the first major
address at the Democratic National Convention, Michelle Obama described
herself as a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother, no different from
many women.

Michelle
Obama's Speech at the Democratic National Convention
25 Aug 2008 Interactive video and transcript of Mrs. Obama in Denver
on Aug. 25. I
stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history, knowing that
my piece of the American Dream is a blessing hard won by those who came
before me, all of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad
to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for
work, the same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all
across this country... People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18
million cracks in that glass ceiling, so that our daughters and our
sons can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher.

Michelle
Obama Owned Her Moment By Eugene Robinson 26 Aug 2008 I don’t
get it. Look At Cindy McCain. She’s the one who brought the money to
the marriage. She’s the one who seems to make the financial decisions
for the couple -- to the extent that John McCain can’t even be sure
how many homes he owns. She’s smart and opinionated. But nobody’s clamoring
for her to give a performance at the Republican convention next week
that makes her seem softer and more approachable. Is it that she more
closely fits some agreed-upon notion of what a political spouse should
look like? I suspect that’s the case, and I suspect there’s a generational
issue in addition to a racial issue. No matter: Michelle Obama owned
her moment Monday night.

Emotional
opening in Denver as Kennedy passes the torch 25 Aug 2008 Democrats
opened their 2008 national convention Monday with an emotional tribute
to an ailing Sen. Edward Kennedy, who told delegates that "the torch
will be passed again" to Sen. Barack Obama and a new generation of leaders.
"We are told that Barack Obama believes too much in an America of high
principle and bold endeavor," the Massachusetts Democrat said. "But
when John Kennedy thought of going to the moon, he didn't say it's too
far to get there."

Kennedy
electrifies Democratic convention with appearance 25 Aug 2008
Sen. Edward Kennedy -- recuperating from recent brain surgery -- made
a dramatic appearance at the Democratic National Convention on Monday
night, pledging to see Barack Obama to the White House and his own return
to the Senate floor. "I have come here tonight to stand with you to
change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals and
to elect Barack Obama to the presidency of the United States," Kennedy
said to a standing crowd.

GOP
to Counter Dem Convention With New Strategy: It's the Obama, Stupid
By R J Shulman 26 Aug 2008 (Satire) The Post Times Sun Dispatch has
obtained a copy of the memo which sets forth the new Republican strategy.
As you all know, the last time the Democrats won the White House it
was due in large part to the clever Clinton people coming up with the
slogan, "It’s the economy, stupid." We won the White House
back with "It’s the stupid, stupid," the idea Americans wanted
a cuddly but dumb President, a guy just as moronic as the guy you would
sit and have a beer with. McCain is just not that cuddly... So in order
to get this race close enough to steal, we have to make this campaign
about how bad Obama is and that McCain is not Obama. Hence the slogan
-- "It’s the Obama, stupid."

Obama
to DOJ: Block terrorist ad 25 Aug 2008 Sen. Barack Obama has
launched an all-out effort to block a Republican billionaire’s efforts
to tie him to domestic and foreign terrorists in a wave of negative
television ads. Obama’s campaign has written
the Department of Justice demanding a criminal investigation of
the "American Issues Project," the vehicle through which Dallas
investor Harold Simmons is financing the advertisements.

Judge
Denies Stay; Miers Must Appear to Answer HJC's Subpoena 26 Aug
2008 A district court judge denied Harriet Miers and Joshua Bolten's
request for a stay on their Congressional testimony pending the appeal
of the recent decision in HJC v. Harriet Miers et al. The decision
means that Miers will have to appear in response to the House Judiciary
Committee's subpoena for testimony.

FAA:
Computer Breakdown Delays Flights 26 Aug 2008 A Federal Aviation
Administration blamed a computer breakdown for delaying hundreds of
flights today in Chicago and several East Coast cities. FAA spokesman
Paul Takemoto said a computer system that processes flight plans failed.
Aircraft are not allowed to take off without flight plans.

USDA
Gift to Monsanto --The US Department of Agriculture’s give-away
insurance rates for GM crops risk bankrupting the public coffers.
By Prof. Joe Cummins 26 Aug 2008 On 12 September 2007, the FCIC [Federal
Crop Insurance Corporation] Board of Directors approved a Biotech Yield
Endorsement (BYE) pilot programme submitted under section 523(d) of
the Federal Crop Insurance Act. The result is that farmers growing Monsanto’s
genetically modified (GM) maize receives crop insurance at a greatly
reduced cost of between 20 and 70 percent. The BYE programme was crafted
by the Monsanto Corporation and its first beneficiary is limited to
its GM maize... The FCIC Board of Directors, at its 14 August 2008 meeting,
approved additional seed technologies for premium rate reduction for
producers planting certain corn hybrid varieties... The companies benefiting
from the largesse of the USDA give-away insurance include besides Monsanto,
Dow, Syngenta and Pioneer Hi-Bred.

Canada's
Oil Sands Declared "Most Destructive Project on Earth" as Eco Disaster
Looms 26 Aug 2008 A report issued by the nonprofit organization
Environmental Defense has declared petroleum extraction projects in
Canada's oil sands to be "the most destructive project on Earth." "When
even former Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed, who started the Tar Sands
ball rolling, is calling for change, you know this is a major disaster,"
said Aaron Freeman, the group's policy director. The report accuses
the Canadian government of allowing the Tar Sands Project to emit levels
of greenhouse gases that far outstrip any reductions made in other areas.

Police
investigate possible plot to kill Obama 25 Aug 2008 Law enforcement
authorities have arrested two men, and several law enforcement sources
say the investigation is looking into whether the men intended to harm
presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama. According to multiple sources,
Aurora police made a routine traffic stop Sunday morning at 2:38 a.m.
The Secret Service says two rifles were found in the car along with
methamphetamine. Another law enforcement source says he was told at
least one of the rifles was a "sniper rifle." A second source told CBS4
authorities told officers they are concerned they may have come upon
a possible "assassination plot."

MSRNC
Pushing PUMAs to Help the GOP
By Lori Price 25 Aug 2008 In a mouth-draping irony, world's
biggest Hillary Clinton hater and misogynist, Chris Matthews, has
set his MSNBC political roundtable in the middle of the PUMA
(Party Unity My Ass) demonstration in Denver, so that the world would
witness media-inflated strife during the Democrats' 'finest hour.' Whether
you agree with the PUMA point of view or not, one must realize the hypocrisy
of MSNBC (MSRNC, as SoCalDem observed) in exploiting the discord, which
even its own pundits -- NBC News Political Director, Chuck Todd, and
writer, Mike Barnacle -- decried on air during Monday's 'Hardball.'

Protesters:
We're being treated like prisoners
25 Aug 2008 A small group of protesters has marched to the demonstration
zone outside the Democratic National Convention, complaining they are
being treated like political prisoners. Protesters derisively call the
47,000-square foot zone the "Freedom Cage." It's separated from the
parking lot around the convention hall by metal fences atop concrete
barriers.

Protests
Grow at Denver Convention Center 25 Aug 2008 Protests are in
full swing in front of the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver,
and a specific group of four are the spotlight as cops have lined them
up on the curb for questioning.

Protesters
confront Fox News reporter 24 Aug 2008 Security at an anti-war
rally outside the state Capitol this morning allegedly had to break
up a confrontation between a Fox News reporter and Ward Churchill, a
former University of Colorado professor. Churchill was thrust into the
national spotlight after writing a controversial essay on the 9/11 terror
attacks. He was hounded by the persistent reporter, who allegedly put
his hands on Churchill, organizer Glenn Spagnuolo said. The reporter,
Griff Jenkins, could not be immediately reached for comment.

Man
Sues Obama Because He Didn't Get Text Message By R J Shulman
25 Aug 2008 Manley Scott, a 39-year-old out of work bricklayer has filed
suit against Barack Obama because he didn't get a text message announcing
Joe Biden as the Illinois Senator's running mate... "Textgate is
a classic example of why Obama is not fit to be commander in chief,"
said John McCain from one of his many houses, "when we should be
bombing Iran, he would be fiddling with one of those new fangled cell
phones, trying to order some arugula..." Nancy Pelosi said she
is very upset Mr. Scott did not get his message and she said that impeachment
may be back on the table, as long as it is impeachment of a fellow Democrat.
(Satire)

'It's
a matter of how much and how fast.' U.S.
Expects to Rebuild Georgian Army 22 Aug 2008 The United States
expects to help Georgia rebuild its military, a top U.S. general said
Thursday. "One would assume … we would have to help them rebuild because
they are a partner in the war on [of] terror, they've been helpful.
They are going to ask us, I am sure, to replace and rebuild," General
John Craddock, who is in charge of the U.S. European Command, told reporters
during a trip to Georgia. Craddock said he would assess Georgia's needs
during his visit, due to end Friday, and report back to the Pentagon.

Russia
threatens sale of offensive weapons to Israel's enemies 20 Aug
2008 Russian security officials threatened retaliation against Israel
for its weapons exports to Georgia including eight different aerial
drones. Russian Deputy Chief of Staff Col. Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn said
Israel supplied at least eight different models of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs) to Georgia. Nogovitsyn said Israel has also sold a range of weapons
and sought to export main battle tanks to Georgia.

Iraq
insists on troop time frame 26 Aug 2008 Iraqi Prime Minister
Nuri Al-Maliki dug in his heels yesterday on the future of US military
in Iraq, insisting that all foreign soldiers leave the country by a
specific date in 2011 and rejecting legal immunity for American troops
[Awesome!]. Al-Maliki’s aides insisted that a compromise could be found
on the two main stumbling blocks to an accord, which would govern the
US military presence in Iraq after the UN mandate expires at the end
of the year.

Maliki
demands 'specifc deadline' for U.S. troop pullout 25 Aug 2008
Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki said Monday there would be no security
agreement between the United States and Iraq without an unconditional
timetable for withdrawal -- a direct challenge to the Bush administration,
which insists that the timing for troop departure would be based on
conditions on the ground. "No pact or an agreement should be set without
being based on full sovereignty, national common interests, and no foreign
soldier should remain on Iraqi land, and there should be a specific
deadline and it should not be open," Maliki told a meeting of tribal
Sheikhs in Baghdad.

Obama
calls for stepping up pressure on Iran 26 Aug 2008 U.S. Democratic
presidential hopeful Barack Obama called on Monday for enhancing diplomatic
pressures on Iran before Israel feels "cornered." He was responding
to a reporter's question whether Israel will bomb Iran's nuclear sites
some time in the year during a campaign stop in Iowa.

Afghan
Govt demands new rules of engagement 26 Aug 2008 Afghanistan
is demanding a renegotiation of the rules for international troops in
the country after 90 people were killed in US-led attacks on Friday.
The Afghan Cabinet wants to review the "limits of authority and responsibilities"
of international troops after 90 people, including 50 children, were
killed in the air strikes in Herat. A Government statement says air
strikes on civilian targets, unilateral searches of homes, and illegal
detentions of Afghan civilians must be stopped.

US
investigating civilian deaths in Afghanistan 25 Aug 2008 The
United States says it shares Afghan President Hamid Karzai's concerns
about civilian casualties caused during fighting in that country and
that an 'investigation' is under way. Karzai has fired two Afghan army
officers following a joint Afghan-U.S.-led operation that he says killed
at least 89 civilians.

U.S.
CENTCOM Conducts Fla. Training for 'Continuity of Operations'
22 Aug 2008 The United States Central Command has deployed approximately
200 personnel from Tampa to Central Command Forward Headquarters in
the Middle East to conduct training on the Continuity of Operations
Plan (COOP). The training includes the emergency deployment of the USCENTCOM
headquarters in Tampa to an alternate location forward in the CENTCOM
area of responsibility (AOR). The alternate command post will provide
the Commander of US Central Command the ability to maintain situational
awareness and command and control of contingency operations throughout
the USCENTCOM AOR as well as Headquarters, USCENTCOM during a natural
[Bush engendered] disaster.

Pakistan
warns of world insurgency 25 Aug 2008 In Pakistan, Asif Ali
Zardari, who has been nominated by his party to be the country's next
president, has said the Taliban now have an upper hand in Pakistan.
Mr Zardari, speaking to the BBC, said the Taliban should be immediately
put on the country's list of banned organisations.

Downturn
could 'drag on for some time', warns Bank deputy governor --Charles
Bean tells US meeting of central bankers financial climate is as bad
as the 1970s 25 Aug 2008 The current global economic downturn could
"drag on for some considerable time", the Bank of England's new deputy
governor warned today. Charles Bean said the financial climate appeared
to be as bad as the 1970s and admitted senior analysts had "their fingers
crossed".

FBI
saw threat of mortgage crisis --A top official warned of
widening loan fraud in 2004, but the agency focused its resources elsewhere.
25 Aug 2008 Long before the mortgage crisis began rocking Main Street
and Wall Street, a top FBI official made a chilling, if little-noticed,
prediction: The booming mortgage business, fueled by low interest rates
and soaring home values, was starting to attract shady operators and
billions in losses were possible. "It has the potential to be an epidemic,"
Chris Swecker, the FBI official in charge of criminal investigations,
told reporters in September 2004. But, he added reassuringly, the FBI
was on the case. Today, the damage from the [GOP-created] global mortgage
meltdown has more than matched that of the [GOP-created] savings-and-loan
bailouts of the 1980s and early 1990s. By some estimates, it has made
that costly debacle look like chump change. But it's also clear that
the FBI failed to avert a problem it had accurately forecast.

Alleged
'Cop Rage' Witness Plans to Sue City 23 Aug 2008 A man says
two off-duty New York City police officers attacked him when he tried
to help a driver they were battering over a traffic dispute. Cyle Perry-Osby
filed a notice of claim Friday -- the first step toward suing the city.
The officers are accused of attacking a motorist whose open car door
was blocking traffic in the Bronx Aug. 15. They have pleaded not guilty
to gang assault and have been stripped of their guns and badges. Perry-Osby
says he witnessed the attack, went to help the victim and was assaulted
by the officers. His lawyer says Perry-Osby was sprayed with mace, hit
in the head and hospitalized.

Biden
Camp Pressed Hard For a Slot on the Ticket 25 Aug 2008 Democratic
presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden
to be his running mate reached a pivotal point in a secret meeting on
the night of Aug. 6. Sen. Biden was whisked into a Minneapolis hotel
room through a back entrance before Sen. Obama left for his Hawaii vacation.
They talked one-on-one for 90 minutes. The rendezvous capped weeks of
pitching by Biden advisers.

Accentuate
the Negative
By Paul Krugman 24 Aug 2008 The central fact of this year’s election
is that voters are fed up with Republican rule. The only way Mr. McCain
can win the presidential race is if it becomes a contest of personalities
rather than parties -- and if his campaign can instill in voters the
perception that Mr. Obama is a suspicious character while Mr. McCain
is a fine, upstanding gentleman. The Obama campaign, on the other hand,
doesn’t need to convince voters either that he’s the awesomest candidate
ever or that Mr. McCain is a villain. All it has to do is tarnish Mr.
McCain’s image enough so that voters see this as a race between a Democrat
and a Republican.

Nuclear
waste containers likely to fail, warns 'devastating' report--Environment
Agency reveals thousands of holders do not meet basic specifications
for storage and disposal 24 Aug 2008 Thousands of containers of
lethal nuclear waste are likely to fail before being safely sealed away
underground, a devastating official report concludes. The unpublicised
report is by the Environment Agency, which has to approve any proposals
for getting rid of the waste that remains deadly for tens of thousands
of years. The document effectively destroys Britain's already shaky
disposal plans just as ministers are preparing an expansion of nuclear
power.

Homeland
Security waives protection laws for border fence --Environmentalists
have uphill battle 24 Aug 2008 Environmentalists are still smarting
over the Homeland Security secretary's use of his authority to waive
37 environmental laws to expedite construction of the [Texas] border
fence. Efforts failed to challenge the constitutionality of the waivers
in the U.S. Supreme Court. Allen D. McReynolds, who was a member of
President Clinton's team of environmental advisers, called the waiver
and the subsequent rule change "tragic." "This means any time there
is a new federal construction project, well, NEPA (the National Environmental
Policy Act) will be waived and there'll be no environmental review,"
he said.

Polar
bears' long swims blamed on global warming
--Satellite images show little ice in region 23 Aug 2008 Nine
polar bears found swimming 20 to 100 kilometres off the northwest coast
of Alaska last week represent another sign that the rapid retreat of
ice in the Arctic is forcing bears to make dangerous, long-distance
swims to get to land or ice, scientists and environmentalists say.

Agrobacterium
& Morgellons Disease, A GM Connection? By Dr. Mae-Wan Ho and
Prof. Joe Cummins 20 Aug 2008 Preliminary findings suggest a link between
Morgellons Disease and Agrobacterium, a soil bacterium extensively manipulated
and used in making GM crops; has genetic engineering created a new epidemic?
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in the United States announced
the launch of an investigation on 'Morgellons Disease' in January 2008...
CDC’s investigation is to be carried out in conjunction with Kaiser
Permanente’s Northern California Division of Research and the US Armed
Forces Institute of Pathology. [LOL! I'm sure we'll get *lots* of
answers with pharma-terrorists/US Armed Forces 'investigating.']

Gardasil
Meets Measles: A Coincidence? By Barbara Loe Fisher 25 Aug 2008
The bad news about GARDASIL [Gardakill] vaccine keeps getting worse
and it was only a matter of time before government health officials
promoted an "epidemic" to deflect attention from GARDASIL risks and
create an excuse to point accusing fingers at parents who decline to
give their children one or more of the 16 federally promoted vaccines.
They did the same thing in 1985, when publicity about DPT vaccine reactions
prompted officials at the CDC and American Academy of Pediatrics to
allege there were whooping cough epidemics in eight states due to parents
rejecting DPT.

*****

Denver:
Preparing for Democratic Convention or Martial Law?
--In the local newspapers, Denver officials have outlined several
worst-case scenarios. 24 Aug 2008 To the uninformed visitor, it
has become difficult to tell whether Denver is preparing for a Democratic
National Convention or the institution of martial law. Helicopters filled
with armed commandos swooped over downtown in a training exercise earlier
this summer. A warehouse was converted into a temporary jail with chain-link
fences and signs threatening the use of electric stun devices. Downtown
office buildings have hired extra security and rehearsed evacuation
plans. The Secret Service established 18 working groups in Denver, with
assignments to coordinate air security, crisis management and more.

'Draconian
and over-arching' Security
net drops on Denver for Democrat jamboree
24 Aug 2008 A tight security net enveloped Denver as the city braced
Sunday for the arrival of tens of thousands of supporters and protestors
for the Democratic Party's political extravaganza. Some 45,000 people
are expected in the city, nestled on the edge of the Rocky Mountains,
with an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 police and security personnel to be
deployed for the four-day convention which opens Monday. But the security
plans for the party convention coordinated by the secret service along
with some 55 other agencies including the FBI and the US military have
been denounced by civil rights groups as draconian and over-arching.

Man
arrested with weapons at Pelosi hotel
24 Aug 2008 A man who tried to carry two hunting rifles and two pistols
into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's downtown hotel remained in police
custody Sunday. Pelosi and other guests briefly left the hotel during
the Saturday incident but were never in danger, Secret Service spokesman
Malcolm Wiley said. The man, Joseph Calanchini of Pinedale, Wyo., faces
a charge of unlawful carrying of a weapon. Police officers at the Grand
Hyatt hotel noticed him carrying a rifle-type case at the entrance and
detained him.

Vets
against war rally in Denver 24 Aug 2008 About 100 participants
with the Iraq Veterans Against the War group arrived at Union Station
around 1:45 p.m. today, targeting the Democratic National Convention
and chanting anti-war messages and carrying signs saying "Stop the War."

Colo.
city official cancels Al-Jazeera barbecue 23 Aug 2008 The city
manager of Golden, Colo., has decided to withdraw his invitation to
let the Al-Jazeera news network broadcast from a barbecue in his backyard
on the final night of the Democratic National Convention. City manager
Mike Bestor made his decision after a City Council meeting Thursday
at which 'residents' complained the event with the English-language
service of the Middle East news network would be disrespectful to veterans
and active U.S. soldiers.

US
warship docks in Georgia port 24 Aug 2008 A US warship has arrived
in the Georgian port of Batumi carrying the first delivery of 'aid'
supplies by sea. The USS McFaul is the first of three ships to arrive
in Georgia.

U.S.
warns of Russia's establishing permanent facilities in Georgia
24 Aug 2008 The United States warned on Saturday that Russia would violate
the ceasefire agreement by setting up permanent facilities and checkpoints
in and around Georgia. "Putting up permanent facilities and checkpoints
are inconsistent with the agreement," U.S. National Security Council
spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Crawford, Texas where President [sic]
George W. Bush is spending two weeks at his ranch.

The
U.S. hands over military secrets to Moscow --Russia's military
is surprised by Georgian army's negligence 21 Aug 2008 An elite
group of Georgian special forces drove into the "Russian-occupied" Poti
on 5 U.S. military Hummers this week. The vehicles were carrying explosives,
firearms and top-secret satellite technology. Their movement was detected
by satellite and reports had been received from local Georgians angered
by Saakashvili's recent military actions. According to Russian officials,
they didn't expect that a key unit of Georgian intelligence trained
by top NATO specialists would drive directly into their hands. The Georgian
officers were overtaken without causalities.

US:
Russia must return any US equipment [LOL!]
19 Aug 2008 The White House on Tuesday demanded that Moscow return any
US equipment its forces seized in Georgia, amid reports Russian troops
grabbed some US military vehicles. "If the Russians have it, it needs
to be returned immediately," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said as US President
[sic] George W. Bush followed the Georgia crisis from his ranch near
this tiny Texas town. Russian forces in Georgia seized five Humvees
that either belong or had belonged to the US military from the port
of Poti, witnesses said.

Maliki
demands changes to draft deal on US presence 25 Aug 2008 Iraqi
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is demanding changes to a draft deal on
the status of US forces beyond this year, a key Shiite ally in the governing
coalition said... "There are points in the agreement that are still
pending and they can't be approved without changes in order to preserve
the complete sovereignty of Iraq," the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council
(SIIC) quoted Maliki as telling fellow Shiite politicians at a meeting
on Saturday.

Iraqis
march against US agreement 22 Aug 2008 Thousands of Iraqis have
marched in protest against an imminent US-Iraqi security agreement,
saying it would turn the country into a colony of the US. Demonstrations
on Friday by supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shia leader, both
in Baghdad and the southern city of Kufa, come as US and Iraqi negotiators
continue to hammer out final details on an agreement.

RPT:
After 5 years of war, Iraqis desperate for water 24 Aug 2008
Millions of Iraqis lack access to sufficient clean water and proper
sewage five years after the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
Water and sewage are perennial challenges in this arid country, where
the overhaul of decrepit public works has been hindered by years of
war and neglect. Since 2003, the United States has spent about $2.4
billion on Iraq's water and sanitation sector Bush's corpora-terrorist
cronies, and the Iraqi government has now taken over funding major construction.

Dozens
killed in suicide bomb attack in Baghdad 24 Aug 2008 Scores
of people have been killed and 32 injured, by a suicide bomber in western
Baghdad's Abu Ghraib district. Police colonel Dawood Suleiman from the
nearby city of Fallujah said the bomber detonated an explosive vest
at a dinner feast, killing 25 people. The attack took place at the home
of a local sheikh who was holding the dinner to celebrate the release
of his son from US detention, police said.

Commanders
fired over Afghan deaths 24 Aug 2008 Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's
president, has sacked an army general and a major after more than 100
civilians were reported to have been killed in an attack by US-led occupation
forces. The move came after a delegation appointed by Karzai travelled
to the Shindand airstrip and Azizabad village in Herat in western Afghanistan
to investigate reports that the civilians had died. Eyewitnesses and
local people say more than 100 civilians, many of them women and children,
were killed in the attack.

Report:
British to boost troops in Afghanistan 24 Aug 2008 Britain will
send an additional 4,500 troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban,
a newspaper reported Sunday. The British military dismissed the report
as speculation. The News of The World cited an unidentified military
source as saying those troops would be sent to Afghanistan once soldiers
began returning from Iraq -- where a major reduction of Britain's presence
has been promised for early 2009.

MoD
struggling to maintain aircraft and supplies to troops --Lack
of staff could confine Britain's nuclear submarines to dock within 18
months, warns defence expert 24 Aug 2008 The Ministry of Defence
faces such a critical shortage of civilian staff, engineers and technical
expertise that it is struggling to maintain its aircraft, and the supply
of equipment to troops in Afghanistan and Iraq is under threat, leaked
memos reveal.

U.S.
forces free AP cameraman in Iraq 23 Aug 2008 U.S. forces freed
a cameraman for the Associated Press in Baghdad on Saturday after holding
him for three months without charge, the news agency said. Ahmed Nouri
Raziak was handed over to representatives of the Associated Press at
a U.S. military compound in Baghdad. He had been detained by U.S. and
Iraqi forces at his home in the northern city of Tikrit on June 4, the
agency said in a report from Baghdad.

Law
lords right to stand against cowardly abuse --Joanna Blythman
on torture 24 Aug 2008 Binyam Mohamed cannot speak for himself - he
is the only British resident being held at Guantanamo Bay... but claims
that his Moroccan captors tortured him, stripping him naked and cutting
him with a scalpel on his chest and penis. After 18 months of this he
was transferred to what is known as the "Dark Prison", near Kabul, Afghanistan,
a secret prison run by the CIA. Mohamed's description makes the blood
run cold... But what is MI5's role in all this? The Home Office insists
our security and intelligence agencies don't "participate in, encourage
or condone the use of torture". For his part, Mohamed says that his
interrogators asked him questions about his life in London which could
only have been provided by the British intelligence services... The
law lords should not have to remind the UK and US governments that "the
torturer has become like the pirate and the slave trader before him
an enemy of all mankind".

Rage
Against The Machine wear Guantanamo Bay-style outfits at Reading Festival
--Band slam Tony Blair and George Bush as they headline first day
of bash 22 Aug 2008 Rage Against The Machine headlined the Main
Stage at Reading Festival tonight in dramatic fashion, arriving on stage
dressed in Guantanamo Bay prisoner-style clothes. The band came onstage
dressed as prisoners of war, complete with bags over their heads and
matching boiler suits, launching straight into 'Bombtrack'.

'Peace
boats' reach Gaza 23 Aug 2008 Two "peace boats" came ashore
Saturday in Gaza in a gesture of solidarity with Palestinians living
under an Israeli blockade. The boats carried 44 people from several
countries, including Israel, the United States and Tunisia, as well
as one Israeli.

Pentagon's
Intelligence Arm Steps Up Lie Detecting Efforts on Employees
24 Aug 2008 The Pentagon's intelligence arm is adding more polygraph
studios and relying on outside contractors for the first time to conduct
lie detection tests in an attempt to screen its 5,700 prospective and
current employees every year. The stepped-up effort by the Defense Intelligence
Agency is part of a growing emphasis on counterintelligence.

Homeland
Security Comes to Vermont --Changes in Border Town Unsettle
Some Residents 24 Aug 2008 For the Department of Homeland Security,
the changes are part of a gradual fortification of America's northern
border that began shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
and has accelerated in recent years. The hardening of the northern frontier
is unsettling to many in the small towns along the border. Named the
Secure Border Initiative, the project calls for more than tripling the
number of agents along the northern border, adding boats and helicopters,
and deploying sophisticated new technology including hundreds of millions
of dollars in new communications equipment, radiation detectors and
three different types of camera-mounted sensors in the uninhabited wooded
areas.

New
Obama running mate Biden criticizes McCain 24 Aug 2008 (Springfield,
IL) At a campaign rally here yesterday, Barack Obama's just-named running
mate, Sen. Joe Biden, wasted no time filling his new role on the Democratic
ticket - he tore into Republican John McCain, put himself at America's
kitchen table and became a passionate cheerleader in chief for Barack
Obama. Obama, speaking before a crowd of about 35,000 gathered at the
spot where he announced his run for the White House in February 2007,
called Biden of Delaware the leader he had been looking for, "a man
with a distinguished record and a fundamental decency."

Last
Call for Change We Can Believe In By Frank Rich 24 Aug 2008
...McCain’s trigger-happy temperament and reactionary policies offer
worse than no change. He is an unstable bridge back not just to Bush
policies but to an increasingly distant 20th-century America that is
still fighting Red China in Vietnam and the Soviet Union in the cold
war. ...[A]s George Mason University’s Center for Media and Public Affairs
documented in its study of six weeks of TV news reports this summer,
Obama’s coverage was 28 percent positive, 72 percent negative. (For
McCain, the split was 43/57.) Even McCain’s most blatant confusions,
memory lapses and outright lies still barely cause a ripple, whether
he’s railing against a piece of pork he in fact voted for, as he did
at the Saddleback Church pseudodebate last weekend, or falsifying crucial
details of his marital history in his memoirs, as The Los Angeles Times
uncovered in court records last month.

Obama
Announcement by Text Sends Message About Medium --Growing
Popularity Resides in Intimacy Email, Phones Lack 23 Aug 2008 At
about 2:45 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23, Kevin Bertram was awakened by
a call from Barack Obama's Chicago headquarters. The campaign was about
to send a text message officially announcing Sen. Obama's running mate.
Phone companies had checked their systems to make sure they were ready
for the load. At about 3 a.m., Obama headquarters dispatched the message,
which named Sen. Joseph Biden.

Lawsuit
Filed Against Obama Claims He's Not Eligible for the Presidency
23 Aug 2008 Philip J. Berg, Esq., of Pennsylvania filed a lawsuit on
Thursday seeking a Declaratory Judgement and Injunction that Barack
Obama does not meet the qualifications to become President of the United
States. In the lawsuit Berg alleges that Obama is not eligible for the
presidency because he is not a naturalized citizen, and/or lost his
citizenship when he was adopted in Indonesia, and/or has duel citizenship
with Kenya and Indonesia.

View
of economy somber from Fed mountain retreat 24 Aug 2008 (WY)
A towering grizzly bear guards the doorway to the Federal Reserve's
annual policy retreat in this Teton Mountain resort, serving a reminder
to central bankers of the battle to sooth the credit crunch. "This turmoil
is not going to go away quickly and will require serious efforts to
overcome it," a top official of the International Monetary Fund, John
Lipsky, told Reuters. "A year ago there was a real sense of uncertainty
and confusion. People were perplexed by the turmoil that had come on
quite suddenly. I would say the mood this year is one of greater clarity...let's
call it a bit more somber," said Lipsky, the IMF's first deputy managing
director.

DOD:
Engineers to review post-Katrina pumps 23 Aug 2008 The Department
of Defense will hire an independent engineering company to review allegations
that pumps installed in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina weren't
adequately tested and might fail during a hurricane. Acting Inspector
General Gordon Heddell said he has ordered his staff to begin work immediately
on a contract to look at tests done before the Army Corps of Engineers
installed the pumps, and at the pumps themselves.

Strict
precautionary measures against bird flu at check-points 24 Aug
2008 Strict precautionary measures have been taken by the National Committee
for Emergency Response to the Bird Flu to prevent any outbreak of the
avian influenza in the country. The watchdog panel has intensified surveillance
at the border check-points, airports and sea beaches to ensure that
birds entering the country are not infected with the deadly H5N1 virus.

Churchill,
Canada: Polar bear capital
24 Aug 2008 Every autumn, hundreds of polar bears descend on the small
Canadian town of Churchill. Diana Preston watches them as they prepare
for their annual migration north.

Polar
Bears Make Long, Risky Swims 22 Aug 2008 Nine polar bears were
observed in one day swimming in open ocean off Alaska's northwest coast,
an increase from previous surveys that may indicate warming conditions
are forcing bears to make riskier, long-distance swims to stable sea
ice or land. The bears were spotted in the Chukchi Sea on a flight by
a federal marine contractor, Science Applications International Corp.

*****

Joe
Biden is Obama's running mate --His abundant foreign policy
experience is considered a boost to the Democratic ticket. 23 Aug 3008
Barack Obama has tapped Joseph R. Biden Jr. as his running mate, bringing
to the Democratic ticket a veteran senator with deep expertise in international
relations. The campaign announced his selection about midnight Pacific
time Friday on its website and through e-mails and text messages to
supporters.

Obama
Chooses Biden as Running Mate 23 Aug 2008 Senator Barack Obama
has chosen Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware to be his running
mate, turning to a leading authority on foreign policy and a longtime
Washington hand to fill out the Democratic ticket, Mr. Obama announced
in text and e-mail messages early Saturday. Mr. Obama’s selection ended
a two-month search that was conducted almost entirely in secret.

Obama's
veep message to supporters
23 Aug 2008 Barack Obama's campaign had said it would announce Obama's
choice for a running mate in a text message to supporters... Text message:
Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee. Watch the
first Obama-Biden rally live at 3pm ET on http://www.BarackObama.com.
Spread the word! Obama announced the pick on his Web site with a photo
of the two men and an appeal for donations. A text message went out
shortly afterward that said, "Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to
be our VP nominee."

The
Cat's Out of the Bag By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy 23 Aug 2008
Okey dokey - so the big Veep selection is out, as you have surely heard
by now: Joe Biden. Wow. All of this hoopla for HIM?? Frankly speaking,
I am not a huge fan of his. Post 9/11, he found every opportunity to
get his photo taken with President [sic] Bush in the Rose Garden...
He voted to authorize the Resolution on Iraq. So put that in your pipes
and smoke it. But here's the thing: the popular vote winner, the one
who "would be on anyone's short list," according to Obama - just
not HIS, apparently, as she was not vetted... Huh. I guess he wasn't
all that "sincere" after all.

Hillary
gets stiffed 23 Aug 2008 Obama has often said, most recently
on NBC’s "Meet the Press" on July 27, that Clinton "would
be on anybody’s short list." But apparently not his. "She
was never vetted," a Democratic official reported. "She was
not asked for a single piece of paper. She and Senator Obama have never
had a single conversation about it. How would he know if she’d take
it?" The official also said Clinton (D-NY) never met with Obama’s
vetting team of Eric Holder and Caroline Kennedy.

Big
Money Still Has Prominent Seat at Parties’ Conventions
23 Aug 2008 When Senator Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech before
70,000 people at Invesco Field on Thursday in Denver, most supporters
will be sitting under the open night sky. But a group of lobbyists and
corporate executives will watch the event from plush skyboxes, with
catered food and a flowing bar, and a price tag of up to $1 million.

McCain
To Pick Ronald Reagan As VP By R J Shulman 22 Aug 2008 Bucking
all of the predictions regarding his choice of a running mate, Senator
John McCain will choose Ronald Reagan to run as his Vice President,
the Post Times Sun Dispatch learned today. "This is a brilliant move,"
said Charles Schneider, a strategist for the Republican Party, "as it
will bring all the conservatives and Reagan Democrats to the polls to
vote for McCain."

Senator
back from Georgia wants tough action against Russia 22 Aug 2008
Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that his visit to Georgia, Ukraine and
Poland, at Sen. John McInsane's behest, persuaded him that the United
States and its allies must take tough steps to prevent further Russian
military aggression against its smaller neighbors. Graham, a South Carolina
Republican, called on NATO to "stop war-gaming on tables in Brussels"
and to begin military exercises in Europe to show its commitment to
protecting member nations. Graham was joined on the trip by Sen. Joseph
Lieberman (R-Israel).

Scheunemann,
Iraq and Georgia
By Robert Dreyfuss 21 Aug 2008 If there's any comic relief in the war
between Russia and Georgia, it's this statement from Randy Scheunemann,
John McCain's top foreign policy adviser: "In the twenty-first century,
nations don't invade other nations." Coming from America's No. 1 advocate
for invading Iraq -- Scheunemann headed the neocon-inspired Committee
for the Liberation of Iraq in 2002 -- that's rich... It's no laughing
matter that McCain's top adviser is multiply connected to Georgia, whose
ill-advised assault on Russian positions in South Ossetia fully qualifies
it as the first, overtly American-allied "rogue nation."

Did
McCain Help Bait Russia into Georgia?
By Joe Lauria 17 Aug 2008 Who benefits most from painting this a revival
of Soviet-era aggression? John McCain. The Georgian crisis has created
a campaign issue McCain can run on. McCain's best chance to win, unless
Obama self-destructs, is to portray himself as the Cold War-era war
hero ready to do battle again against our old Cold War adversary. McCain
is yesterday's man, so revive yesterday's "threat..." A compliant media
will keep the phony Russian threat an issue throughout the campaign.
It could even raise Condi Rice's vice presidential fortunes, as her
only expertise was the former Soviet Union. The original Cold War was
based on manufactured threats. The new trumped up threats about Russia
will make Condi's experience "relevant" again. They can both run on
Russia.

Algerian
prisoner at Guantanamo Bay says he was waterboarded 23 Aug 2008
An Algerian prisoner [Djamel Ameziane] at Guantanamo Bay has accused
his guards of using a form of waterboarding on him, his lawyer said
Friday, marking the first allegation that the harsh interrogation
technique torture was used at the U.S. military base.

LOL!US
puts up bin Laden 'wanted' posters in Afghanistan
23 Aug 2008 The United States is erecting billboards in Afghanistan
offering hefty rewards for Osama bin Laden, Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad
Omar and US Al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] member Adam Gadahn Pearlman,
the embassy has said. Ten of the large Rewards for Justice boards were
being erected countrywide, two of them in Kabul, embassy spokeswoman
Corina Sanders said.

"We're
seeing history repeat itself." Rockets,
guile and the lessons of history: the Taleban besiege Kabul
23 Aug 2008 Seven years after a US-led invasion toppled the Taleban,
that is the question now troubling President Karzai and Nato forces
in Afghanistan. Despite the presence of 70,000 foreign troops, the Taleban
have advanced on Kabul this year and hold territory just outside Maydan
Shar, the capital of Wardak province, 20 miles southwest of the capital.

Afghanistan's
President Hamid Karzai condemns civilian deaths 23 Aug 2008
The U.S.-led coalition says it will 'investigate' allegations of civilian
deaths during a battle in western Afghanistan. Afghanistan's Ministry
of Interior says 76 civilians were killed in strikes in the Shindand
district of Herat province.

Israel
declares Gaza protest boats will not reach their destination
23 Aug 2008 Israel last night warned an attempt by peace activists to
sail two wooden boats to the Gaza Strip was a "provocation" [!] and
said it would prevent them reaching their destination. A group of 46
activists set sail yesterday morning from Cyprus and were hoping to
reach Gaza later today to challenge the economic blockade Israel has
imposed on the strip and to deliver a cargo of 200 hearing aids for
a deaf school and 5,000 balloons.

Soldier
gets 15 months in prison for desertion 22 Aug 2008 A soldier
who fled to Canada rather than fight in Iraq has been sentenced to 15
months in prison after pleading guilty in Fort Carson, Colo., to a reduced
charge of desertion. Pvt. Robin Long told a military judge at his sentencing
Friday that he left the country over moral objections to what he called
an illegal war.

Three
men arrested over threat to assassinate Brown 23 Aug 2008 Three
men arrested on suspicion of terror offences are linked to an investigation
into threats to kill the Prime Minister, police sources revealed last
night. No plot was in place but there were calls for the death of Gordon
Brown on an extremist Islamist website in January. The three suspects
are all from Blackburn, Lancashire, and were held under the Terrorism
Act 2006.

Unmanned
Drone On L.I. Sparks Terror Investigation 23 Aug 2008 An unmanned
drone being built by an engineer on Long Island sparked a large counter-terrorism
investigation across the New York area, officials tell WNBC.com. Police
said they had stumbled upon overnight testing of the drone at a little-used
airstrip in Calverton, Long Island. Officials said the drone was being
designed to carry more than 600 pounds of explosives.

Satellites
track Mexico kidnap victims with RFID chips 21 Aug 2008 Affluent
Mexicans, terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending thousands
of dollars to implant tiny transmitters under their skin so satellites
can help find them tied up in a safe house or stuffed in the trunk of
a car. More people, including a growing number of middle-class Mexicans,
are seeking out the tiny chip designed by Xega, a Mexican security firm
whose sales jumped 13 percent this year.

Security
Makes U.S. Conventions Virtual Fortresses --Congress earmarked
$100 million for 'security' at two meetings 22 Aug 2008 Two U.S.
cities will become virtual fortresses during the Democratic and Republican
nominating conventions, protected by airplanes, helicopters, barriers,
fences and thousands of police officers, National Guard troops and Secret
Service agents.

Oil
Speculators Cost Consumers $31 Billion this Summer By Rep. Ed
Markey 23 Aug 2008 On August 21, 2008, the Washington Post reported
that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has now learned
that an astonishing 80 percent or more of oil contracts on the
New York futures market are held by speculators. "Financial firms speculating
for their clients or for themselves account for about 81 percent of
the oil contracts on the NYMEX, a far bigger share than had previously
been reported by the agency." At one point in July, a single foreign
energy firm held 11 percent of all regulated NYMEX oil futures contracts
for the purpose of speculation... Throughout the spring and summer,
President [sic] Bush and Republicans in Congress thwarted attempt after
attempt by Democrats to pop this speculative bubble and provide relief
to consumers. Each time, Republicans sided with Big Oil over the American
people. ...[A]ccording to my calculations, have resulted in additional
costs for American consumers of $31 billion at the pump this summer.

Audits
of Medicare drug plans lacking 22 Aug 2008 Nearly three years
into the Medicare drug benefit, federal officials have yet to ensure
that private drug plans enacted programs to deter fraud and abuse, government
investigators say. That lack of oversight "risks significant misuse
of funds in this $39 billion program," the Government Accountability
Office said in a report to be publicly released Monday.

Recession
fear as economic growth hits zero --Gloomiest outlook since
Black Wednesday 23 Aug 2008 The City was braced last night for Britain's
first recession since the early 1990s after the government revealed
that belt-tightening by households and business brought growth to a
standstill in the second quarter of this year. Adding to the pressure
on Gordon Brown to deliver a stimulus package to relaunch his administration,
the Office for National Statistics said the economy had performed less
strongly than it had earlier estimated. It revised down growth from
0.2% in the three months to June to zero.

Citizens
Bank and Trust Acquires Insured Deposits of Columbian Bank and Trust (FDIC) 22 Aug 2008 The Columbian Bank and Trust Company, Topeka,
Kansas, was closed today by the Kansas Bank Commissioner J. Thomas Thull,
and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) was named receiver.
To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption
agreement with Citizens Bank and Trust, Chillicothe, Missouri, to assume
the insured deposits of The Columbian Bank and Trust Company.

More
corporate welfare for Bush's cronies: Auto
industry seeking $50B in loans from Congress 23 Aug 2008 Automakers
plan to urge Congress to support funding up to $50 billion in low-interest
loans over three years to help them modernize their assembly plants
and develop next-generation fuel-efficient vehicles. Industry officials
said the loans, twice the amount authorized in last year's energy bill,
will be a top priority when Congress returns next month. [Why can't
Bush's corpora-terrorists modernize their plants without taxpayer bailouts?]

Bush
Hustling the Bureaucracy to Advance Rightwing Agenda By Matthew
Rothschild 18 Aug 2008 Bush has vowed to sprint through the final five
months of his Administration, and you better believe him... Unable to
accomplish his goals legislatively, Bush is trying to get them done
by fiat. If you look at proposed regulatory changes at the Department
of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department
of the Interior, and the Justice Department you get a sense of how vast
this hustle is.

Report
Links Tobacco Marketing and Movies With Youth Smoking--Even
brief exposure to tobacco ads can hook kids for life, study finds
22 Aug 2008 A new National Cancer Institute report has reached the government's
strongest conclusion to date that tobacco marketing and depictions of
smoking in movies promote youth smoking. The 684-page report, The
Role of the Media in Promoting and Reducing Tobacco Use, presents
definitive conclusions that tobacco advertising and promotion are causally
related to increased tobacco use, and exposure to depictions of smoking
in movies is causally related to youth smoking initiation.

'The
impact of global warming is brutal and tragic for polar bears.' Polar
Bears at Risk of Drowning in the Chukchi Sea --Surveys Show
Numerous Bears Swimming Far From Land as Sea Ice Nears Record Low
21 Aug 2008 Recent government surveys document that polar bears are
at risk of drowning in large numbers off the northern coast of Alaska
as sea ice once again approaches record low levels. On August 16th,
surveys documented nine polar bears swimming in open water off the northwestern
coast of Alaska in the Chukchi Sea, in an area recently opened for offshore
oil exploration. One bear was more than 50 miles from land.

10
Polar Bears Are Seen Swimming in Open Water 22 Aug 2008 Ten
polar bears, an unusually large number, were seen swimming in open water
off the northern coast of Alaska recently, some heading for shore and
some heading toward the retreating ice in the Chukchi Sea, two federal
officials confirmed Friday.

Fay
hits Florida fourth time, heads for New Orleans 23 Aug 2008
Tropical Storm Fay extended her stay in Florida on Saturday making landfall
for a record fourth time as she trudged across the state's northern
panhandle and took aim at points west including New Orleans.

*****

'Ohio
will continue to use the Premier machines in the Nov. 4 election.' Diebold
acknowledges voting machine error that may cause votes to be dropped[Three
words: Sledgehammer. Swing hard.]
A major voting machine maker [Diebold] has cautioned its customers in
34 states to look out for a programming error that may cause votes to
be dropped. At
least 1,000 total votes were dropped in nine Ohio counties over the
course of a handful 'elections' back to 2006, including the March presidential
primary... Premier Election
Solutions Inc. previously had said complications with antivirus software
caused the problem, but on Tuesday the company said in a product advisory
that
the problem is with the machines themselves. [The
problem is with those *programming* the machines.]
Allen, Texas-based Premier, a unit of North Canton-based Diebold Inc.,
supplies touch-screen 'voting' systems as well as scanners for paper
ballots.

U.S.
Secret Service on Way to Biden's House 22 Aug 2008 The United
States Secret Service has dispatched a protective detail to assume the
immediate protection of Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del., a source tells ABC
News, indicating in all likelihood that Biden has been officially notified
that Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has selected him to be his running
mate. Sources also tell ABC News that Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., and Virginia
Gov Tim Kaine have been told they have not been selected for the vice
presidential slot.

'Scores'
of Afghans dead in US raid22
Aug 2008 Afghanistan's interior ministry says US-led forces killed 76
civilians in an operation on Wednesday in the west of the country. The
ministry issued a statement on Friday, saying: "Seventy-six people,
all civilians and most of them women and children, were martyred during
the operation by coalition forces in Shindand district of Herat province.
Nineteen women, seven men and the rest children all under 15 years of
age," were killed in the operation, the statement said. The ministry
confirmed it would be one of the highest civilian deaths tolls in the
battle against the Taliban since they were ousted from power [?] during
the 2001 US-led invasion.

55
pc of French want their troops out of Afghanistan 23 Aug 2008
A majority of French people want their troops pulled out of Afghanistan,
a poll suggested on Friday, days after an ambush there killed 10 French
soldiers. A survey in Le Parisien daily showed 55 percent of respondents
think France should leave the NATO mission fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan,
compared to 36 percent who say they should remain following Monday's
bloody attack.

Iraq,
U.S. eye troops withdrawal by end of 2011 22 Aug 2008 Iraq and
the U.S. negotiators have reached a draft agreement on a proposed withdrawal
timetable [Oh. I thought McBush
decried the nefarious 'timetable?'] and other issues on the U.S.
military presence in Iraq beyond 2008, CNN reported Friday. Iraqi Deputy
Foreign Minister Mohammed al-Haj Hamoud, who is also Iraq's chief negotiator,
told the channel that the U.S. troops would completely pull out by the
end of 2011.

Activists
sail to bust Israeli sea blockade on Gaza 22 Aug 2008 International
activists departed from Cyprus by boat on Friday in an attempt to run
an Israeli sea blockade on 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza. The 44
activists sailed from the port of Larnaca in two wooden boats at 9:50
a.m. (7:50 a.m. British time). Hailing from 14 countries, they said
they expected to reach the shores of Gaza, patrolled by the Israeli
navy, on Saturday.

France
and U.S. Say Russia Not Complying With Cease-fire 22 Aug 2008
Russian tanks and troops swept along main highways out of Georgia on
Friday, abandoning the main military camp and checkpoints outside Gori.
On Friday night Russia declared its withdrawal complete and said it
was in full compliance with a cease-fire agreement, but the United States
and France immediately voiced strong objections, saying Russia had not
gone far enough.

U.S.
Navy Ships Head to Georgia
21 Aug 2008 Two U.S. Navy ships, including a guided missile destroyer
USS McFaul, and a U.S. Coast Guard cutter are getting underway to transport
'humanitarian' assistance supplies to Georgia, U.S. European Command
(EUCOM) said on August 21. It said USS McFaul (DDG 74) departed from
Souda Bay, Crete, on Wednesday and the cutter Dallas (WHEC 716) will
depart later this week.

Government
loses Guantanamo ruling 21 Aug 2008 The UK Government must disclose
information relating to a Briton held at Guantanamo Bay. He says it
supports his case that evidence against him was obtained through torture.
Two judges in the High Court in London said today that they concluded
that the Foreign Secretary was under a duty to "disclose in confidence"
to Binyam Mohamed's legal advisers in Guantanamo Bay certain information
relating specifically to him and "which is not only necessary but essential
for his defence". Mohamed is facing US military 'trial' and possibly
the death penalty if found guilty.

CIA
Statement: Hardly "The Way of the World" (CIA) 22
Aug 2008 In his book, "The Way of the World," author Ron Suskind
makes some serious charges about the CIA and Iraq. As Agency officers
current and former have made clear, those charges are false. More than
that, they are not in keeping with the way CIA works. In fact, they
are profoundly offensive to the men and women who serve here, as they
should be to all Americans.

Carnaby
had no drugs, alcohol in his system --Man who claimed to
be CIA agent shot after fleeing police 21 Aug 2008 A man who held
himself out as a CIA agent and led [?] Houston police on a lengthy chase
before being shot when he exited his vehicle had no traces of alcohol
or drugs in his system, according to autopsy results released Thursday.
Roland Vincent Carnaby, 52, was killed by a single gunshot to the back
that pierced his spine and caused massive internal damage.

NIST
explains the near-free-fall collapse of WTC Building 7What
does a lying government look like? By Mark Yannone 21 Aug 2008 In
case you missed it, here are three
views of WTC7 collapsing on 9/11. When the public saw the video
evidence and heard the recorded testimony of eyewitnesses, they
claimed that WTC7 was brought down with explosives in a controlled demolition
and demanded an immediate investigation... The laughter at the government's
explanations never stopped, so they did a three-year
study.

Universities
try to control students off campus
22 Aug 2008 A growing number of universities are starting to take a
more proactive approach to monitoring off-campus behavior... The University
of Washington now enforces its campus behavior code off campus as well.
A student doesn't need to be charged with a violent crime to activate
the campus code at this Seattle university. Being cited for breaking
the city's noise regulations is enough to score an invite to the student
conduct office. The
legal ramifications of these policies are not entirely known, said Sheldon
Steinbach, an attorney in Washington, D.C., who formerly worked for
many years with the American Council on Education, representing school
presidents from 1,800 colleges and universities.

DNC
Police Bulletin: People With City Maps Could Be Planning Violence
--Leaked instructions to Denver police outline indicators of potential
violent protesters By Steve Watson 21 Aug 2008 The ACLU has obtained
a leaked copy of a Denver Police Department bulletin which advises officers
that violent protesters at the upcoming Democratic National Convention
may be identified from their use of hand held radios, bikes, maps and
"camping information." The bulletin provides a "watch list" of items
that police are to associate with violent protesters, describing some
items as "caches of supplies that could be used by violent demonstrators."
Other items on the list include baseball catch protectors, football
helmets, plastic shields, gas masks and protest sign handles.

Swift
Boaters and the Housing Crisis By Mary Kane 21 Aug 2008 ...The
Big Picture says that 51 former IndyMac employees sent
a letter to the California Attorney General's office, requesting
an investigation into Democratic Senator Charles Schumer's role in possibly
causing the bank's failure. Schumer sent a letter in June to federal
regulators questioning the financial stability of IndyMac, a troubled
subprime lender hit hard by the mortgage crisis. Shortly after the letter
was made public, the bank experienced a run by account holders. The
FDIC took over IndyMac on July 11, and it became the third-biggest bank
failure in American history... Who is behind this "groundswell" of (former)
IndyMac workers? It turns out that the employee letter was distributed
to the media by CRC Public Relations -- yes, the group whose clients
include the National Republican Congressional Committee, National Republican
Senatorial Committee and the Republican National Committee. And, CRC
was the PR firm behind the company that published a book questioning
2004 Democratic presidential candidate John
Kerry's Vietnam service on a swift boat.

Powder
at McCain offices not hazardous 22 Aug 2008 With the Democratic
National Convention just days away, a white-powder scare resolved quickly
this afternoon, when the return address led federal agents to an inmate
in the Arapahoe County Detention Facility. Within hours of the 3 p.m.
scare the Centennial campaign office of Republican presidential candidate
John McCain, authorities announced that the powder was phony and that
the writer appeared to be Marc Harold Ramsey.

Two
McCain offices evacuated after letter threat --Several Colo.
staffers hospitalized 21 Aug 2008 Two offices of John McCain's U.S.
presidential campaign, in Colorado and New Hampshire, were evacuated
on Thursday, and several staffers were hospitalized, after a threatening
letter arrived in the mail containing an unidentified white powder.
But within hours, the letter was traced by authorities to a Colorado
jail inmate... and initial tests of the envelope and its contents turned
up negative for hazardous materials, the U.S. Secret Service said. The
New Hampshire scare over a second envelope there was later deemed to
be an unrelated incident brought about by anxiety over the threatening
letter received in Colorado. [The "threats" deflected attention
from McBush's latest set of "We need a draft" and "I
don't know how many houses I own" gaffes.]

Top
10 Dumbest John McCain Quotes
--Idiotic Pronouncements, Gaffes, and Brain Lapses by John McCain
By Daniel Kurtzman 21 Aug 2008 10. "I was looking at the Sturgis schedule,
and noticed that you had a beauty pageant, so I encouraged Cindy to
compete. I told her [that] with a little luck, she could be the only
woman to serve as both the First Lady and Miss Buffalo Chip." --on the
annual Miss Buffalo Chip Pageant, which features topless (and occasionally
bottomless) contestants, Sturgis, South Dakota, Aug.
4, 2008.

And
None Dare Call It Treason By Pat Buchanan 22 Aug 2008 Who is
Randy Scheunemann? He is the principal foreign policy adviser to John
McCain and potential successor to Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski
as national security adviser to the president of the United States...
He is a dual loyalist, a foreign agent whose assignment is to get America
committed to spilling the blood of her sons for client regimes who have
made this moral mercenary a rich man. From January 2007 to March 2008,
the McCain campaign paid Scheunemann $70,000 -- pocket change compared
to the $290,000 his Orion Strategies banked in those same 15 months
from the Georgian regime of Mikheil Saakashvili. What were Mikheil's
marching orders to Tbilisi's man in Washington? Get Georgia a NATO war
guarantee. Get America committed to fight Russia, if necessary, on behalf
of Georgia. Scheunemann came close to succeeding.

A
grim forecast for heating costs --Report warns
that average 2009 oil bill for Mass. household could top $3,00021
Aug 2008 Massachusetts residents who heat their homes with natural gas
or oil could end up paying nearly $1 billion more this year than they
did in 2007, about a 30 percent increase, according to a University
of Massachusetts report set to be released today. [Start
taking over Exxon Mobil's corporate offices - what are we *waiting for?*]

Protections
Set for Antiabortion Health Workers --Opponents Denounce
Proposed Regulation Allowing Federal Officials to Pull Funding 22
Aug 2008 The Bush regime yesterday announced plans to implement a controversial
regulation designed to protect doctors, nurses and other health-care
workers who object to abortion from being forced to deliver services
that violate their personal beliefs. The rule empowers federal health
officials to pull funding from more than 584,000 hospitals, clinics,
health plans, doctors' offices and other entities if they do not accommodate
employees who refuse to participate in care they find objectionable
on personal, moral or religious grounds.

Polar
bears found swimming miles from Alaskan coast 22 Aug 2008 An
aerial survey by government scientists in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea this
week found at least nine polar bears swimming in open water -- with
one at least 60 miles from shore -- raising concern among wildlife experts
about their survival. Geoff York, the polar bear coordinator for WWF's
Arctic Programme, said that when polar bears swim so far from land,
they could have difficulty making it safely to shore and are at risk
of drowning, particularly if a storm arises.

*****

New
Guidelines Would Give F.B.I. Broader Powers --New guidelines
would allow the F.B.I. to open an investigation of an American, conduct
surveillance, pry into private records and take other investigative
steps 'without any basis for suspicion.' 20 Aug 2008 A Justice
Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation
to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation
against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers
briefed on the details said Wednesday. Little is known about its precise
language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give
the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations.
Congressional staff members got a glimpse of some of the details in
closed briefings this month, and four Democratic senators told Attorney
General Michael B. Mukasey in a letter on Wednesday that they were troubled
by what they heard.

Pentagon
can't find $2.3 trillion, wasting trillions on 'national defense'
--'America's Outrageous War Economy!' By Paul B. Farrell 18 Aug
2008 We've lost our moral compass: The contrast between today's leaders
and the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 shocks
our conscience. Today war greed trumps morals. During the Revolutionary
War our leaders risked their lives and fortunes; many lost both. Today
it's the opposite: Too often our leaders' main goal is not public service
but a ticket to building a personal fortune in the new "America's Outrageous
War Economy," often by simply becoming a high-priced lobbyist.

U.S.
demands Russia leave Georgia "now" [Since 2003, everyone
(except Blackwater, KBR and Exxon Mobil) has demanded that the US leave
Iraq and Afghanistan "now."] 21 Aug 2008 Washington demanded
on Friday that Russia pull its troops out of Georgia "now", but Moscow
said it would be another 10 days before the bulk of its force left Georgian
soil.

Russia
to keep soldiers in Georgia 21 Aug 2008 Russia plans to establish
a long-term presence in Georgia and one of its breakaway republics by
adding 18 checkpoints, including at least eight within undisputed Georgian
territory outside the pro-Russian enclave of South Ossetia, a ranking
Russian military official told reporters Wednesday. The checkpoints
will be staffed by hundreds of Russian troops, the official said, and
those within Georgia proper will have supplies ferried to them from
breakaway South Ossetia.

Russia
sends aircraft carrier to Syria 20 Aug 2008 The Russian aircraft
carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" is ready to head from Murmansk
towards the Mediterranean and the Syrian port of Tartus. The mission
comes after Syrian President Bashar Assad said he is open for a Russian
base in the area. The "Admiral Kuznetsov", part of the Northern
Fleet and Russia’s only aircraft carrier, will head a Navy mission to
the area.

China
and Iraq Finalize Oil Contract, as Western Oil Majors Waver
22 Aug 2008 China and Iraq will sign a deal next week to develop the
Ahdab oil field, 100 miles southeast of Baghdad.. The new agreement,
valued at $1.2 billion, is a variation of a deal struck with the state-owned
China National Petroleum Corp. in 1997, when Iraq was governed by Saddam
Hussein.

Key
U.S. Iraq strategy in danger of collapse --US paying $300
a month to former insurgents, many of them part of al-Qaeda 20 Aug
2008 A key pillar of the U.S. 'strategy' to pacify Iraq is in danger
of collapsing because the Iraqi government is failing to absorb tens
of thousands of former Sunni Muslim 'insurgents' who'd joined U.S.-allied
militia groups into the country's security forces. Under the program,
the United States pays each militia [known as the Sons of Iraq or Awakening
councils] member a stipend of about $300 a month and promised that they'd
get jobs with the Iraqi government. But the Iraqi government has brought
only a relative handful of the more than 100,000 militia members into
the security forces. Now officials are making it clear that they don't
intend to include most of the rest. "We cannot stand them, and we detained
many of them recently," said one senior Iraqi commander in Baghdad,
who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized
to discuss the issue. "Many of them were part
of al Qaida despite the fact that many of them are helping us
to fight al Qaida."

U.S.
military frees Reuters cameraman in Iraq 21 Aug 2008 The U.S.
military freed a Reuters television cameraman on Thursday after holding
him for three weeks in Iraq without charges. Ali al-Mashhadani, who
also works freelance for the BBC and Washington-based National Public
Radio, was detained in Baghdad on July 30 while he was in the Green
Zone government compound for routine checks for a U.S. military press
card.

MI5
colluded in torture of British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, says
High Court 21 Aug 2008 MI5 colluded in the interrogation of
a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay, the High Court has ruled.
The High Court said the role of the Security Service during the questioning
of Binyam Mohamed in Pakistan went far beyond that of a by-stander.
Lord Justice Thomas said the court had concluded that the conduct of
the Security Service "facilitated interviews by or on behalf of the
United States when BM was being detained by the United States incommunicado
and without access to a lawyer in Pakistan in the period April 2002
until at least 17 May 2002 when he was seen by an officer of the Security
Service". Under the law of Pakistan, he said, "that detention was unlawful".

Canadians
Killed as NATO Battle in Afghanistan Flares 21 Aug 2008 Three
Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and another was injured
by a roadside bomb as insurgents in the country intensify their attacks
on North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops. Three Polish NATO soldiers
were also killed yesterday and another was seriously injured in a bomb
blast, the Polish army said.

McCain
On Reinstituting a Military Draft: 'I Don't Disagree' By Ali
20 Aug 2008 Today at a townhall meeting, an audience member praised
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) for his vow to "follow
bin Laden to the gates of hell." After a long question about
veterans' care, the questioner said she believed we needed to reinstate
the draft, to which McCain seemed to readily agree: QUESTIONER: If we
don’t reenact the draft, I don’t think we’ll have anyone to chase Bin
Laden to the gates of hell. [Applause] MCCAIN: Ma’am, let me say that
I don’t disagree with anything you said.

Terrorism:
Pakistan coalition teeters as bombs go off 22 Aug 2008 At least
60 people were killed yesterday by a twin suicide bombing at a military
ordnance factory close to Islamabad, part of an upsurge of violence
that comes as the Pakistani government teeters on the brink of collapse.

UK
accused of Musharraf exit deal 20 Aug 2008 One of Pakistan's
most prominent pro-democracy leaders, Aitzaz Ahsan, has accused a senior
British diplomat of undermining his country's rule of law. Sir Mark
Lyall Grant was in Pakistan recently and reportedly urged the government
to give President Musharraf immunity if he resigned. Mr Ahsan said that
any deal to give the president "safe passage" was wrong. Mr Musharraf
stepped down on Monday after nine years in power to avoid a move by
the government to impeach him.

Don't
shoot down the flying saucer, it's one of ours, to support urban warfare
[In that case, it's *first* to shoot down!] 15 Aug 2008 Flying
saucers could potentially be used to support troops engaged in urban
warfare. The military is to assess whether the alien-like aircraft,
Moon buggies and miniature flying robots are capable of detecting roadside
bombs and insurgents without putting troops in the line of fire.

Feds:
Fire took down building next to twin towers --Government
scientists rebut 'conspiracy' theories, say fire brought down trade
center building 21 Aug 2008 Federal investigators said Thursday
they have solved a mystery of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: the collapse
of World Trade Center building 7, a source of long-running conspiracy
theories. The 47-story trapezoid-shaped building sat north of the World
Trade Center towers, across Vesey Street in lower Manhattan in New York.
On Sept. 11, it was set on fire by falling debris from the burning towers,
but skeptics long have argued that fire and debris alone should not
have brought down such a big steel-and-concrete structure.

Ex-soldier
sues over terror watch list claim 21 Aug 2008 A former Army
pilot and convert to Islam who said his name is on the U.S. government’s
secret terrorist watch list has fought back, filing a federal lawsuit
against the Homeland Security Department and various other federal agencies.
Erich Scherfen said unless his name is removed from the list, he faces
losing not only his job as a commercial airline pilot but the ability
to make a living in his chosen profession.

Home
Office loses confidential data on all UK prisoners 22 Aug 2008
The Home Office has lost confidential information on every prisoner
in the country and more than 40,000 serious criminals sparking yet another
Government data crisis. It has led to fears that the taxpayer may now
face a multi-million pound compensation bill from criminals whose safety
may be compromised.

Tubbs
Jones, five-term congresswoman, dies 21 Aug 2008 Rep. Stephanie
Tubbs Jones, 58, a five-term Ohio Democrat, died yesterday evening after
suffering a burst aneurysm in an "inaccessible part of her brain," the
Cleveland Clinic said. Tubbs Jones was elected to Congress in 1998 after
serving as a prosecutor and Cleveland municipal court judge. Her district
covers parts of Cleveland and its suburbs.

McCain
Colo. office evacuated after letter threat 21 Aug 2008 A suburban
Denver campaign office of U.S. presidential candidate John McCain was
evacuated on Thursday, and several people went to a hospital, after
receiving an envelope containing a threatening letter and an unidentified
white powder, a campaign spokesman said. The letter arrived in the mail
in the afternoon, and the campaign immediately notified local and federal
law enforcement authorities, said Jeff Sadosky, a spokesman for the
campaign in suburban Washington, D.C.

McCain
Office Is Sent White Powder, Threat--Denver
Campaign Office Receives Letter Containing a Threat and "An Amount of
White Powder" 21
Aug 2008 John McCain's campaign office in Denver, Colorado, has received
a letter containing a threat and "an amount of white powder in it,"
a McCain campaign spokesman told CBS News. The city of Denver is at
a heightened security level, as the Secret
Service and other officials prepare for the Democratic National
Convention, which is set to begin on Monday. [Lest we get distracted
from this nugget:
McCain unsure how many houses he owns 21 Aug 2008 Sen. John
McCain (R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain
how many houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. "I think -- I'll have
my staff get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M.

GOP
rolls out hefty list of Denver party 'crashers'
21 Aug 2008 Republicans are planning quite the party crash at next week’s
Democratic convention in Denver. Traditionally a time for one party
to own the spotlight and the opposition to linger in the shadows, Republicans
are determined to steal as much thunder as possible from the Democrats
during their week-long coronation of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the party’s
likely presidential nominee. To accomplish this, Republicans -- in coordination
with the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) -- are set
to bring to Denver a list of heavy-hitting surrogates who will do on-site
media interviews all week long.

No
lawyers permitted inside 'Gitmo on the Platte'
--Inside Denver's temporary DNC jail 20 Aug 2008 Denver's Arrestee
Processing Site, or APS, is built to replicate what you'd normally see
at the city jail... Denver County Undersheriff Bill Lovingier invited
the cameras inside on Wednesday to counter activists' claims that the
city was trying to hide a secret jail. No lawyers are permitted inside
the APS. The city says the arrestees can meet with their attorneys when
they go to court. However, the ACLU says that's illegal. The civil rights
group also wants assurances that once people post bond, they won't be
held for several more hours.

No
razor wire at Denver convention holding cells 20 Aug 2008 Police
have dropped plans to top the holding cells in place for use during
next week's Democratic convention with razor wire after some groups
started comparing the site to the detention facility for suspected terrorists
at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "We rethought those plans and came up with
a way to put a lid on the cells instead of the razor wire," Denver Undersheriff
William Lovingier said Wednesday as he led reporters on a tour of the
cells in a city warehouse that will be the "Temporary Arrestee Processing
Site."

FEMA
phones hacked; calls made to Mideast, Asia 20 Aug 2008 A hacker
broke into a Homeland Security Department telephone system over the
weekend and racked up about $12,000 in calls to the Middle East and
Asia. The hacker made more than 400 calls on a Federal Emergency Management
Agency voicemail system in Emmitsburg, Md., on Saturday and Sunday,
according to FEMA spokesman Tom Olshanski. FEMA is part of Homeland
Security, which in 2003 put out a warning about this very vulnerability.

Kaine
on McCain's House Gaffe: "He Couldn't Count High Enough" 21
Aug 2008 ABC News: Obama V.P. prospect and Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine mocked
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., on Thursday for not knowing exactly how many
houses he owns. "I understand that Sen. McCain was asked yesterday this
question, 'how many houses do you own?,' and he couldn't answer that
question. He couldn’t count high enough apparently to even know how
many houses he owns," said Kaine.

McCain
unsure how many houses he owns 21 Aug 2008 Sen. John McCain
(R-Ariz.) said in an interview Wednesday that he was uncertain how many
houses he and his wife, Cindy, own. "I think -- I'll have my staff
get to you," McCain told Politico in Las Cruces, N.M. "It's condominiums
where -- I'll have them get to you." The correct answer is at least
four, located in Arizona, California and Virginia, according to his
staff. Newsweek estimated this summer that the couple owns at least
seven properties.

Vitter
Loses With FEC On $160K In 'D.C. Madam' Legal Bills 20 Aug 2008
Lawyers for the Federal Election Commission do not believe that Sen.
David Vitter (R-La.) should be allowed to use campaign funds to cover
all the legal costs he incurred while trying to avoid testifying in
the Deborah
Jeane Palfrey prostitution case. In a draft advisory opinion (AO)
released by the FEC on Wednesday, the agency concluded that Vitter will
have to personally pay more than $160,000 in lawyers' fees stemming
from Vitter's effort to quash subpoenas from Palfrey, dubbed by the
media as the "D.C. Madam." Another $31,000-plus in legal bills run up
during a Senate Ethics Committee probe of Vitter can be covered by the
campaign, the FEC staff rules. An additional $15,301 in fees can be
partially covered by Vitter's re-election campaign.

Louisiana
Families Urge Jindal to Renew Anti-Discrimination Order --"There
is nothing 'pro-family' about rolling back protections for some families,"
says PFLAG 21 Aug 2008 Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians
and Gays (PFLAG) is urging Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) to rescind
his pledge to allow a state anti-discrimination order to expire on Friday.
The order, originally signed into law by former Governor Kathleen Blanco
(D), bars state agencies and contractors from harassment and discrimination
on the basis race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, national origin,
political affiliation or disabilities. Jindal has said he will refuse
to renew the order, in part, out of fear that it would hinder faith-based
organizations' ability to contract with the state because he's a
Reichwing maggot.

California
doctors can't refuse treatment to gays on religious grounds, court rules
19 Aug 2008 Doctors may not discriminate against gays and lesbians in
medical treatment, even if the procedures being sought conflict with
physicians' religious beliefs, the California Supreme Court decided
unanimously Monday. In its second major decision advancing gay rights
this year, the state high court ruled that religious physicians must
obey a state law that bars businesses from discriminating on the basis
of sexual orientation.

Bird
flu detected in Rhode Island 21 Aug 2008 A strain of bird flu
has been detected in four swans found in the Seekonk River. The cases
were discovered as part of routine surveillance by the Rhode Island
Department of Environmental Management. DEM says the strain of avian
flu detected in Rhode Island is not the same strain that has infected
people in Asia and Europe since 2003.

A
Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading 21 Aug
2008 Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate
called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that
needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading
Commission examined Vitol's books last month, it found that the firm
was in fact more of a speculator, holding oil contracts as a profit-making
investment rather than a means of lining up the actual delivery of fuel.
Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size
of Vitol's portfolio -- at one point in July, the firm held 11 percent
of all the oil contracts on the regulated New York Mercantile Exchange.
The discovery revealed how an individual financial player had gained
enormous sway over the oil market without the knowledge of regulators.
Other CFTC data showed that a significant amount of trading activity
was concentrated in the hands of just a few speculators.

Oil
closes above $121 - up nearly $6 21 Aug 2008 Oil surged more
than $6 on Thursday to touch $122 a barrel, on a falling dollar and
rising concerns about global supply. U.S. crude for October delivery
ended $5.62 higher at $121.18 a barrel, having reached as high as $122.04.

Mega
barf alert!FDA
approves radiation for use on spinach, iceberg lettuce 21 Aug
2008 Federal food-safety regulators now will allow producers to irradiate
spinach and iceberg lettuce to protect consumers from disease
eliminate its nutritional value and give consumers cancer. The Food
and Drug Administration is set to give the green light Friday to a practice
that officials have concluded is 'safe.'

US
food prices to post biggest rise since '90: USDA 20 Aug 2008
U.S. consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices
in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging
meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Agribusiness Department
said on Wednesday. Food prices are forecast to rise by 5 percent to
6 percent this year, making it the largest annual increase since 1990.

Mr
Rumsfeld wrote at the bottom "I stand for 8-10 hours a day. Why is standing
limited to four hours?". US
accused of war crimes over torture methods --In his new book,
lawyer Philippe Sands argues that the responsible officials, and the
lawyers who advised them, should be charged with war crimes. 20 Aug
2008 The use of torture by the US Government in the aftermath of the
terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001 has come under increasing
criticism. In 1863 at the height of the US civil war, president Abraham
Lincoln set the principles for interrogation of prisoners with a famous
instruction "military necessity does not admit of cruelty". It took
the September 11 attacks to change those principles and Vice-President
[sic] Dick Cheney said the US would now have to work through the dark
side.

U.S.
Is Tracking Citizens At Border Checkpoints --Data From Checkpoints
to Be Kept for 15 Years 20 Aug 2008 The federal government has been
using its system of border checkpoints to greatly expand a database
on travelers entering the country by collecting information on all U.S.
citizens crossing by land, compiling data that will be stored for 15
years and may be used in criminal and intelligence investigations. Officials
say the Border Crossing Information system, disclosed last month by
the Department of Homeland Security in a Federal Register notice, is
part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats.

Moscow
promises response to U.S. missile deal 20 Aug 2008 The United
States and Poland signed a deal on Wednesday to station parts of a U.S.
missile defense shield on Polish soil, drawing a sharp response from
Moscow. Despite U.S. assurances to the contrary, Russia sees the ballistic
missile shield as a threat to its own security and some Russian politicians
and generals have said Poland must be prepared for a preventive attack
on the site in the future.

Rice
Signs Missile Deal With Poland 20 Aug 2008 Despite fierce opposition
from Moscow, the United States and Poland signed a long-stalled agreement
on Wednesday to place an American missile defense base on Polish territory.
The Kremlin has leveled sustained criticism against the American plan,
characterizing it as a hostile act near the Russian border.

Missile
shield puts Warsaw in crosshairs 15 Aug 2008 Russia's deputy
chief of general staff says Poland's missile deal with the US would
allow Moscow to use nuclear weapons against Warsaw. "Poland, by
deploying (the system) is exposing itself to a strike… 100 percent,"
Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn was quoted by AP as saying.

The
US missile defence system is the magic pudding that will never run out
--Poland is just the latest fall guy for an American foreign policy
dictated by military industrial lobbyists in Washington By George
Monbiot 19 Aug 2008 US politics, because of the failure by both Republicans
and Democrats to deal with the problems of campaign finance, is rotten
from head to toe. But under Bush, the corruption has acquired Nigerian
qualities. Federal government is a vast corporate welfare programme,
rewarding the industries that give millions of dollars in political
donations with contracts worth billions. Missile defence is the biggest
pork barrel of all, the magic pudding that won't run out, however much
you eat. The funds channelled to defence, aerospace and other manufacturing
and service companies will never run dry because the system will never
work. To keep the pudding flowing, the administration must exaggerate
the threats from nations that have no means of nuking it - and ignore
the likely responses of those that do.

Fear
of new Mid East 'Cold War' as Syria strengthens military alliance with
Russia 20 Aug 2008 Syria sought to revive its security alliance
with Russia today, when President Bashar al-Assad arrived in Moscow
to clinch a series of military agreements, raising fears that the new
Cold War that has erupted in the Caucasus will spill over into the Middle
East. "Our position is that we are ready to co-operate with Russia
in any project that can strengthen its security," the Syrian leader
told Russian newspapers at the start of his two-day trip.

Norway:
Russia to freeze NATO military ties --NATO had suspended
formal contacts with Russia Tuesday 20 Aug 2008 Norway's Defense
Ministry said Russia has informed it that it plans to cut all military
ties with NATO... NATO foreign ministers Tuesday suspended formal contacts
with Russia as punishment for sending troops into Georgia.

NATO
planes killed French troops 20 Aug 2008 Ten French troops who
were killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday have been hit by NATO planes that
had come to help them escape an ambush. The soldiers were killed on
Tuesday during fierce fighting in Sarobi district, about 50 km (30 miles)
east of the capital Kabul. French daily Le Monde quoted soldiers
who survived the attack as saying that alliance planes missed the target
and opened friendly fire.

Pentagon
Plans to Send Up to 15,000 Additional Troops to Afghanistan
19 Aug 2008 The Pentagon will be sending 12,000 to 15,000 additional
U.S. troops to Afghanistan, possibly as soon as the end of this year,
with planning underway for a further force buildup in 2009. A request
by Gen. David McKiernan, the commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan,
for three U.S. brigades with support staff has been approved.

Iran
rocket launch 'troubles' US [Too bad.] 20 Aug 2008 Iran
said it had sent a rocket carrying a dummy satellite into space on Sunday,
triggering fresh concern in Washington that the technology could be
diverted to ballistic missiles. The launch is likely to further exacerbate
tensions with the West over its nuclear drive, which Iran's arch-foe
Washington [hypocrites] and its allies claim is a cover for atomic weapons
ambitions.

Russia
and Georgia in tense exchange of prisoners 19 Aug 2008 Russia
and Georgia have exchanged 20 prisoners of war in a gesture of goodwill
despite continued tension over Russia's promised withdrawal. The 15-minute
handover took place on a highway 30 miles west of the capital Tbilisi
in the village of Igoeti, where Russian troops are firmly entrenched.

U.S.
Trainers Say Georgian Troops Weren't Ready 20 Aug 2008 U.S.
military trainers -- the only American boots on the ground -- say the
Georgian soldiers they knew who were sent to battle the Russians had
fighting spirit but were not ready for war. The Georgians were "beginning
to walk, but by no means were they running," said U.S. Army Captain
Jeff Barta, who helped train a Georgian brigade for peacekeeping service
in Iraq. "If that was a U.S. brigade, it would not have gone into combat."

Bush
Defends US 'War on Terror' 20 Aug 2008 U.S. President [sic]
George Bush has defended the U.S. war on [of] terror and his administration's
efforts to keep pressure on terrorists. Mr. Bush Wednesday addressed
the same veterans group that U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama
and John McCain addressed in the southeastern state of Florida earlier
this week.

Senators:
FBI rules could target innocent people 20 Aug 2008 Some Democratic
senators say proposed rules to help the FBI catch terrorists could allow
the government to spy on innocent Americans "without any basis for suspicion."
Known as the "attorney general guidelines," the rules have not been
approved or even publicly released yet, but lawmakers are raising concerns
after being briefed on what they say.

MI5
report challenges views on terrorism in Britain
--Sophisticated analysis says there is no single pathway to violent
extremism 20 Aug 2008 MI5 has concluded that there is no easy way
to identify those who become involved in terrorism in Britain, according
to a classified internal research document on radicalisation seen by
the Guardian. The "restricted" MI5 report takes apart many of the common
stereotypes about those involved in British terrorism. They are mostly
British nationals, not illegal immigrants and, far from being Islamist
fundamentalists, most are religious novices. Nor, the analysis says,
are they "mad and bad".

Revealed:
The CCTV cameras spying on hundreds of classrooms 18 Aug 2008
CCTV monitors classrooms at one in 14 schools, according to a survey.
The poll of teachers also found that almost a quarter feared there might
be more cameras hidden around the campus that they did not know about.
Most said their schools were fitted with surveillance cameras. Almost
80 per cent said there were cameras at the entrance and more than 7
per cent said there were some in classrooms.

White
House missing as many as 225 days of e-mail 20 Aug 2008 The
White House is missing destroyed as many as 225 days of e-mail
dating back to 2003 and there is little if any likelihood a recovery
effort will be completed by the time the Bush administration leaves
office, according to an internal White House draft document obtained
by The Associated Press. The nine-page outline of the White House's
e-mail problems invites companies [LOL!] to bid on a project
to recover the missing electronic messages.

Ohio
Rep. Tubbs Jones dies after aneurysm20 Aug 2008 Rep. Stephanie
Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in the U.S. House
of Representatives, died Wednesday after suffering an aneurysm, medical
officials said. Tubbs Jones, who was in her fifth term representing
parts of Cleveland and its suburbs, was 58.

Get
ready for Coup 2008!
We see it happening. The offshore drilling, the "attack" on Georgia,
the "success" of the "surge," the disappearance of Iraq war footage
from the media, the escalation in Afghanistan -- all spun in McCain's
favor, making another stolen election "credible." --MDR and LRP

Poll
shows McCain in 5-point lead over Obama [That's what happens
when you continue to surrender to Reichwing/NWO management.] 20
Aug 2008 In a sharp turnaround, Republican John McInsane has opened
a 5-point lead on Democrat Barack Obama in the U.S. presidential race
and is seen as a stronger manager of the economy [OMFG], according to
a Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday. McCain leads Obama among
likely U.S. voters by 46 percent to 41 percent, wiping out Obama's solid
7-point advantage in July and taking his first lead in the monthly Reuters/Zogby
poll.

Mega
barf alert!Lieberman
to Speak at GOP Convention 20 Aug 2008 Sen. Joe LieberBush (R-Israel),
completing a dramatic political transformation over the last eight years,
is now scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention next
month, according to GOP sources.

Obama
and veep choice to campaign on Saturday 19 Aug 2008 Barack Obama's
newly minted running mate will join the Democratic hopeful onstage Saturday
at a rally in this capital city where Obama launched his White House
bid, a campaign official said. A senior Obama adviser told The Associated
Press on condition of anonymity Tuesday that Obama and his veep choice
will appear in front of the former state Capitol where Abraham Lincoln
once served.

Sen.
Stevens loses bid to move trial to Alaska 20 Aug 2008 Sen. Ted
Stevens cannot move his corruption trial from Washington to his home
state of Alaska, a federal judge ruled Wednesday in a decision that
could hamstring the powerful Republican's re-election bid. Stevens had
hoped to stand trial by day and campaign on nights and weekends. <g>

Merrill,
Wachovia in Danger of Failing: Strategist 18 Aug 2008 Merrill
Lynch, Wachovia and other financial companies are at risk of failure
as the cost of raising capital soars at a time when the banks need to
pay settlements over auction rate securities, David Kotok, chairman
& chief investment officer from Cumberland Advisors, told CNBC Monday.

Credit
squeeze hits college students, families --With tuition bills rising,
lenders cutting back, education financing is tight 20 Aug 2008 Paying
for a college education -- with a price tag now north of $50,000 a year
at some top-priced private schools -- has never been easy. But this
year, on top of the... hit to college savings accounts from the turmoil
in the financial markets, parents and students have another obstacle
to overcome. The ongoing credit crunch has prompted dozens of private
lenders to stop making student loans.

Trace
arsenic in water may be linked with diabetes 19 Aug 2008 A new
analysis of government data is the first to link low-level arsenic exposure,
possibly from drinking water, with Type 2 diabetes, researchers say.
The study's limitations make more research necessary. And public water
systems were on their way to meeting tougher U.S. arsenic standards
as the data were collected.

Prince
Charles seen as 'guardian of countryside' 19 Aug 2008 The Prince
of Wales is seen by many as the saviour of Britain's countryside, a
survey has found. He was rated the best individual guardian of rural
areas by readers of Country Life magazine. It comes just days after
the prince warned in a Daily Telegraph interview that genetically modified
crops risk causing the world's biggest environmental disaster, and that
small farmers could be driven to the wall by "gigantic corporations"
taking over food production.

Court:
Bush Administration Rule on Air Pollution Is Illegal 20 Aug
2008 A federal appeals court yesterday struck down a Bush administration
rule that prevented states and local governments from imposing stricter
monitoring of pollution generated by power plants, factories and oil
refineries than required by the federal government. In a 2 to 1 decision,
a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
found that the Environmental Protection Agency rule violated a provision
of the Clean Air Act, which requires adequate monitoring of emissions
to ensure compliance with pollution limits.

Carla
Bruni tries to save 15 remaining local brown bears
20 Aug 2008 Carla Bruni, France’s First Lady, has drawn the wrath of
Pyrenean farmers by taking up the cause of local brown bears. Ms Bruni,
the epitome of the Parisian left-wing upper class, agreed in 2006 to
be "godmother" to Hvala, one of five bears brought in from
Slovenia to replenish a population that had dwindled to about 15. Mr
Chirac ordered the repopulation after a hunter shot dead Cannelle, the
last pure-blood native Pyrenean bear, in 2004. He called the shooting
an environmental disaster. The hunter was acquitted on appeal last April
of charges of illegally killing the animal. [Too bad the hunter didn't
shoot himself, instead.]

The
Evidence Gap: Drug
Makers' Push Leads to Cancer Vaccines' Rise 20 Aug 2008 It is
not hard to hear about Gardasil Gardakill. In television advertisements,
a cast of hip people in their 20s -- artists, writers and professionals
-- describe why they got the shots, in the
language of liberation, such as, "I chose to get vaccinated
because my dreams don’t include cervical cancer." The advertisements
direct viewers to gardasil.com, which includes patients’ stories, buddy
icons and downloads for holding an event at sororities. Girls of any
age who have had one dose of the vaccine can ask for text-message "reminders"
from Merck to get the next two shots.

Lion
and Tiger and Fay, Oh My 20 Aug 2008 (The Acreage, FL) Two escapee's
are back behind bars after a major manhunt, or in this case 'cat-hunt.'
A tiger and a lion got loose from McCarthy's Wildlife Sanctuary and
for a short time, schools were on lockdown and residents were urged
to stay inside.

*****

UN
draft text urges Russia withdrawal from Georgia
19 Aug 2008 A Western draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution on
Georgia demands compliance with the cease-fire and an immediate Russian
withdrawal to lines held before the conflict, according to a text obtained
by Reuters on Tuesday. The draft, due to be considered by the council
later on Tuesday, also calls for the return of Georgian forces to their
usual bases and refers to "the territorial integrity of Georgia within
its internationally recognized borders." [Where's the U.N. draft
text for the US to get the f*ck out of Iraq and Afghanistan?]

Russia
seizes US vehicles
19 Aug 2008 Russian soldiers today held blindfolded Georgian servicemen
at gunpoint and commandeered US Humvees in a dramatic sequence of events
in Poti, a key Black Sea port. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe
stated that if Russia has seized any US military equipment in Georgia,
it must return it immediately.

NATO
Ministers Warn Russia, No 'Business as Usual' 19 Aug 2008 After
emergency talks here, NATO foreign ministers on Tuesday urged Russia
to pull its troops immediately out of Georgia, saying there could be
no "business as usual" between the alliance and the Kremlin
until it withdraws. After the meeting, NATO announced a new commission
between the alliance and Georgia, intended to strengthen the country’s
ties with the organization.

Rice
warns Russia not to redraw European map 19 Aug 2008 Condoleezza
Rice today warned Russia not to try to redraw the map of Europe in the
wake of its invasion of Georgia. After a Nato foreign ministers' meeting,
the US Secretary of State said that the alliance "intends to support
the territorial integrity, independence and sovereignty of Georgia."

Biden
calls for $1 billion in emergency aid to Georgia
18 Aug 2008 Fresh off a trip to the Republic of Georgia, Senate Foreign
Relations Committee Chairman Joe Biden said he will ask for $1 billion
in emergency 'aid' for the war torn country. Biden, who is rumored to
be very high on Sen. Barack Obama’s list of running mates, met with
Georgia's president and prime minister on the trip, further burnishing
his foreign policy credentials [*puke*] ahead of Obama’s decision.

War
à la carte --The US is inventing wars aplenty these days.
Will it be Iran or Ossetia this month, asks Eric Walberg 20 Aug
2008 Last week, Georgia launched a major military offensive against
the rebel province South Ossetia, just hours after President Mikhail
Saakashvili had announced a unilateral ceasefire... The timing -- and
subterfuge -- suggest the unscrupulous Saakashvili was counting on surprise.
"Most decision-makers have gone for the holidays," he said in an interview
with CNN. "Brilliant moment to attack a small country." Apparently he
was referring to Russia invading Georgia, despite the fact that it was
Georgia which had just launched a full-scale invasion of the "small
country" South Ossetia, while Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin
was in Beijing for the Olympics.

Taliban
Forces Kill 10 French Soldiers and Raid U.S. Base 19 Aug 2008
Taliban 'insurgents' mounted their most serious attacks in six years
of fighting, one a complex attack with multiple suicide bombers on an
American military base on Monday night, and another by some 100 insurgents
on French forces in a district east of the capital, killing 10 French
soldiers and wounding 21 others, military officials said Tuesday.

Militants
try to storm US base in Afghanistan 19 Aug 2008 An Afghan governor
says militants wearing vests packed with explosives tried to storm a
main U.S. base in eastern Afghanistan. Arsallah Jamal, the governor
of Khost province, says the militants failed to gain entry into Camp
Salerno in Khost city, next to Pakistan's border.

SAS
spearheads new surge against Taliban 19 Aug 2008 Britain's special
forces are to play a key role in a newly-planned "surge" against Taliban
forces in Afghanistan, The Independent has learnt. SAS and SBS troops
are to be used to dramatically expand the Army's "decapitation" strategy
working alongside US Marines against the Taliban leadership.

U.S.
to Build Missiles On Polish Soil 19 Aug 2008 The U.S. and Polish
governments have decided to fast-track a missile defense program. The
tensions between Georgia and Russia sped the talks that brought about
the move. Alex Chadwick talks to Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs
Radek Sikorski about the plans.

Israel,
U.S. reportedly close radar deal 19 Aug 2008 Israel and the
United States reportedly have closed a deal to incorporate Israel into
the U.S. missile defense system. The deal, reported this week in Defense
News and Ha'aretz, for the first time would station U.S. military personnel
permanently in Israel manning X-Band radars.

Military
technology: MoD announces winner of robot challenge 19 Aug 2008
British forces could soon be launching teams of autonomous spy robots
to scope out enemy-held villages and towns. The technology was developed
for the Ministry
of Defence's Grand Challenge, a contest to find the best robotic
air and ground vehicles for identifying threats such as snipers and
roadside bombs. If future work goes well, the technology could be at
the disposal of the army within 18 months. The Grand Challenge winner,
announced today, was Team Stellar.

Soldiers:
Mold infests Okla. barracks for wounded 18 Aug 2008 Mold infests
the barracks that were set up here a year ago for wounded soldiers after
poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center triggered a systemwide
overhaul, soldiers say. Twenty soldiers, who spoke to USA TODAY early
last week, said their complaints about mold and other problems went
unheeded for months. They also said they had been ordered not speak
about the conditions at Fort Sill.

Costs
soar for National Guard training overhaul 19 Aug 2008 Revamping
the Army National Guard training program so soldiers can spend more
time at home will cost at least $128 million this year, and officials
say they need nearly double that amount next year to properly train
and equip their forces, The Associated Press has learned.

NY
judge wants CIA to reveal torture documents 18 Aug 2008 A judge
ordered the CIA to prepare a list of witnesses and documents relating
to the destruction of videotapes of prisoner interrogations. Judge Alvin
Hellerstein says he is growing impatient with delays to resolving requests
by the American Civil Liberties Union for the information. The judge
says he will order production of a list of witnesses and documents unless
the Central Intelligence Agency can convince him it will interfere with
a criminal probe. He gave the agency 10 days to do so.

A
push to ban psychologists' role in torture 17 Aug 2008 (Boston)
Holding signs that read, "Do no harm" and "Abolish torture," about 100
people attended a rally outside the American Psychological Association's
annual convention yesterday, urging the organizations to ban its members
from being involved in military interrogations and torture as part of
the war on [of] terrorism.

Terrorism
charges: Court can use Georgia Tech student's statement --Judge's
ruling in case against Syed Haris Ahmed is a victory for federal prosecutors
19 Aug 2008 Atlanta terrorism defendant Syed Haris Ahmed’s acknowledgments
to agents that he considered planning a terrorist attack and dying a
martyr waging jihad can be used against him at trial, a federal judge
has ruled. Handing federal prosecutors a major victory, U.S. Magistrate
Gerrilyn Brill turned aside arguments that the former Georgia Tech student
was coerced by agents into making the statements.

Schools
roll out terrorism rule book
19 Aug 2008 Schools have become the new battleground in the police's
fight to combat terrorism among Britain's youth. Measures designed to
stamp out Islamic extremism [?] at the earliest opportunity have been
agreed by senior officers and are now being rolled out across the country.
They include guidance for parents on how to stop children searching
for extremist
websites, and an anti-extremism agenda in "all state-maintained
educational establishments" by 2009.

Terrorism
cyber-recruiter jailed 19 Aug 2008 A man described by prosecutors
as a terrorism "Mr Fix-it" who recruited young people to al Qaeda's
ideology over the Internet, was jailed for 12 years on Tuesday while
one of his accomplices received a 10 year term. Aabid Hussain Khan,
23, and Sultan Muhammad, 23, were found guilty
on Monday of possessing a huge array of articles and information
[Gitmo me now], ranging from extremist propaganda to practical
guides on how to make poisons and suicide vests.

Support
grows for independent reviewer of terrorism laws 19 Aug 2008
A key Federal Labor MP has thrown his support behind a bill to introduce
a watchdog to scrutinise Australia's anti-terrorism laws. Labor Caucus
Chairman Daryl Melham says he backs a private members bill from Liberal
MP Petro Georgiou for an independent reviewer of the laws.

Court:
Passengers can challenge no-fly list
19 Aug 2008 Critics of the government's secret no-fly list scored a
potentially important victory Monday when a federal appeals court ruled
that would-be passengers can ask a judge and jury to decide whether
their inclusion on the list violates their rights. The ruling is apparently
the first to allow a challenge to the no-fly list to proceed in a federal
trial court, said the plaintiff's lawyer, Marwa Elzankaly.

Reactor
shut down after fire at Calif. nuke plant 18 Aug 2008 Authorities
are investigating a fire at a California nuclear plant that forced a
reactor to be shut down. The blaze was in a non-nuclear part of the
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.

Anti-Regulation
Aide to Cheney Is Up for Energy Post 19 Aug 2008 A senior aide
to Vice President [sic] Cheney is the leading contender to become a
top official at the Energy Department, according to several current
and former administration officials, a promotion that would put one
of the administration's most ardent opponents of environmental regulation
in charge of forming department policies on climate change.

Warming
climate threatens Alaska's vast forests 19 Aug 2008 Here in
a 13,700-year-old peat bog, ecologist Ed Berg reaches into the moss
and pulls out more evidence of the drastic changes afoot due to the
Earth's warming climate. Rooting through a handful of mossy duff, Berg,
an ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shows remains of
shrubs and other plants taking hold over the last 30 years in a patch
of ground that has long been too soggy for woody plants to grow. In
other words, the ground is drying out, and the peat bog is turning into
forest.

EPA
Buzz Kill: Is the Agency Hiding Colony Collapse Disorder Information?
NRDC Forced to Sue to Get Public Records on Bee Mystery 18 Aug 2008
The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a lawsuit today to uncover
critical information that the US government is withholding about the
risks posed by pesticides to honey bees. NRDC legal experts and a leading
bee researcher are convinced that the US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has evidence of connections between pesticides and the mysterious
honey bee die-offs reported across the country. The phenomenon has come
to be called "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, and it is
already proving to have disastrous consequences for American agriculture
and the $15 billion worth of crops pollinated by bees every year.

Metropolitan
Wastewater Ends Up In Urban Agriculture 18 Aug 2008 As developing
countries confront the first [created] global food crisis since the
1970s as well as unprecedented water scarcity, a new 53-city survey
conducted by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) indicates
that most of those studied (80 percent) are using untreated or partially
treated wastewater for agriculture.

Obama
Ready to Announce Running Mate 18 Aug 2008 Senator Barack Obama
has all but settled on his choice for a running mate and set an elaborate
rollout plan for his decision, beginning with an early morning alert
to supporters, perhaps as soon as Wednesday morning, aides said.

McCain
weighs a Lieberman surprise 19 Aug 2008 John McInsane is seriously
considering choosing a pro-abortion-rights running mate despite vocal
resistance from conservatives, with former Democratic vice presidential
nominee Joseph I. LieberBush (R-Israel) very much in the mix, close
McCain advisers say. One obstacle for Lieberman may be legal.
A GOP official said that since he is not a Republican, Lieberman may
have a challenge being certified on some state ballots. [LIEberman
is detested in Connecticut. He has no future in the state (despite the
Hartford Courant pushing for him 24/7), so he crawled up McCain's a**.]

McCain
nets $1.75 million at Reed-linked event 18 Aug 2008 John McCain
raised more than $1.75 million for Republicans Monday at a fundraiser
clouded by confusion over the role of a political operative connected
to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. The downtown event was promoted
by Ralph Reed, a former head of the Christian Coalition. McCain's campaign
said the event was organized by the Republican National Committee --
not Reed, who was linked to the Abramoff scandal that McCain investigated
in the Senate.

Roseanne
Barr: Angelina Jolie 'Evil,' Brad Pitt 'Vacuous' 18 Aug 2008
"Your evil spawn Angelina Jolie and her vacuous hubby Brad Pitt make
about $40 million a year in violent, psychopathic movies and give away
three of it to starving children, trying to look as if they give a crap
about humanity as they spit out more dunces that will consume more than
their fair share and wreck the earth even more," Roseanne writes in
a post titled "Jon
Voight." She also attacks the actress for recently saying she is
undecided about the presidential election. "Miss Jolie says she likes
[John] McCain too and hasn't decided who to endorse....huh? Aren't you
supposed to be somewhat enlightened, or do you not know that the
African daughter you hold in every picture had parents who suffered
and died because of the Republican party's worldwide economic assault
on Africa over the last few decades since Reagan?" [Well-said!]

Obama
Suggests $2 Billion In New Funding for NASA
19 Aug 2008 Sen. Barack Obama has detailed a comprehensive space plan
that includes $2 billion in new funding to reinvigorate NASA and a promise
to make space exploration and science a significantly higher priority
if he is elected president... Obama criticized administration policies
that will lead to a five-year period after 2010 when "the United States
will have to depend on foreign rockets and spacecraft to send Americans
to orbit" -- even to the largely U.S.-funded $100 billion international
space station.

Credit
crunch may take out large US bank warns former IMF chief 19
Aug 2008 The deepening toll from the global financial crisis could trigger
the failure of a large US bank within months, a respected former chief
economist of the International Monetary Fund claimed today, fuelling
another battering for banking shares. Professor Kenneth Rogoff, a leading
academic economist, said there was yet worse news to come from the worldwide
credit crunch and financial turmoil, particularly in the United States,
and that a high-profile casualty among American banks was highly likely.

FBI
had, then destroyed anthrax strain used in attacks 18 Aug 2008
FBI scientists early on had -- but destroyed -- the unique strain of
anthrax used in the [Cheney] deadly 2001 attacks that years later would
lead them to Dr. Bruce Ivins, now the government's top suspect. FBI
Assistant Director Vahid Majidi said the initial anthrax sample that
Ivins took from his Army lab in February 2002 and gave investigators
did not meet court-ordered conditions for its preparation and collection.
Majidi said the sample kept at the FBI lab was destroyed because the
bureau believed it might have been allowed as evidence at trial.

Journalist
says U.S. target was Al-Jazeera 17 Aug 2008 After more than
six years as a prisoner of the United States, former TV cameraman Sami
al-Hajj is back at work with Al-Jazeera, the largest broadcaster in
the Arab world... and, by most indications, a target of deep hostility
from the Bush regime. Al-Jazeera has also been hit twice by U.S. artillery
fire. One shelling destroyed its Kabul bureau in November 2001. The
second struck a Baghdad office in April 2003, killing correspondent
Tareq Ayoub.

Suicide
car bomb kills 5 in western Iraq 18 Aug 2008 A suicide bomber
detonated a car bomb at a police checkpoint in the western Iraqi city
of Ramadi on Monday, killing five policemen and wounding seven, police
said.

Suicide
bombing near U.S. base kills 10 Afghan civilians 18 Aug 2008
A suicide car bombing has killed 10 people and wounded at least 13 others
in eastern Afghanistan, as the country observes its 'Independence' Day.
U.S. and Afghan officials say the bomber detonated his explosives outside
a U.S. military base in the eastern province of Khost Monday.

British
soldier dies in Afghanistan 18 Aug 2008 A British soldier has
been killed in Afghanistan. The soldier was part of a joint British-Afghan
unit which was hit by an improvised explosive device in the Gereshk
region of Helmand province.

Pervez
Musharraf resigns as president of Pakistan 18 Aug 2008 Pakistan's
president, Pervez Musharraf, today announced his resignation after robustly
defending his record. Expectations that the former army chief and firm
US ally would go had been mounting since the coalition government said
this month it planned to impeach him.

U.S.'s
Gates scoffs at Russian warnings to Poland 17 Aug 2008 Pentagon
chief Robert Gates dismissed as "empty rhetoric" on Sunday Russian warnings
that Moscow would target Poland for a possible military strike because
Warsaw agreed to host part of a U.S. missile shield. "Russia is not
going to launch nuclear missiles at anybody," Defense Secretary Gates
said on ABC News' "This Week." "The Poles know that. We know it."

Russia
Seizes Arsenal of US Weapons In Georgia 15 Aug 2008 Russian
forces have seized a "large arsenal" of U.S.-made weapons in the western
Georgian city of Senaki including hundreds of assault rifles, a military
spokesman said Friday. "In Senaki, we seized a large arsenal of weapons
including 664 U.S.-made M-16 rifles" and a number of M-40 sniper rifles,
General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told a news conference in Moscow. "There
were 1,728 weapons total."

USDA
website 'help wanted' notice: US
to fund Georgia scientists to research, clone deadly viruses for 'outbreak
response'--Posed
01 Jun 2008, updated 15 Aug 2008 African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV)
has been identified by USDA and DHS as an emerging agricultural pathogen
due to the 2007, outbreaks in Eurasia and is now a high priority for
biological countermeasure research. Objectives: Identify and recruit
a qualified scientist from the Republic of Georgia to come to ARS,
PIADC for
the purpose of acquiring knowledge of ASF, and development of molecular
biology skill sets... necessary for the successful ASF knowledge transfer
in the future to other Republic of Georgia scientists. This scientist
will be supported through USDA-DOE interagency agreement administered
through ORISE.
The identified Republic of Georgia scientist will be trained by ARS,
PIADC in foreign animal disease molecular biology skills through on-going
ARS Classical Swine Fever research. This training includes: vaccine
discovery, inclusive of cell culture, virus titration, virus cloning,
viral analysis, sequencing, tissue collection and necropsy. DHS,
PIADC will coordinate ASFV related activities between ARS, PIADC and
the Republic of Georgia, including access to viral samples and genomic
sequencing support. The identified Republic of Georgia scientist, with
assistance from ARS, PIADC and DHS, PIADC collaborators, will prepare
and submit an ASF basic research and vaccine discovery proposal targeting
the Eurasian outbreak response.

1918
flu survivors' antibodies helpful for anti-bird flu fight 18
Aug 2008 Antibodies from survivors of the most devastating 1918 influenza
pandemic still protect against the virus, providing a new approach to
battle foment future epidemics that could be triggered by bird
flu. American scientists studied [!] 32 people who lived through the
1918 flu, and found all had antibodies in their blood to kill the virus
with surprising efficiency, reported the journal Nature Sunday. The
antibodies from the survivors, now aged 91 to 101, also protected mice
from the killer virus, showing that 90 years on, the survivors of the
epidemic are still protected.

UK's
Youngest Terrorist Convicted 18 Aug 2008 A teenager has been
found guilty of possessing a guide to making napalm [OMG!
Why don't they convict the US of *using* it?] - making him
Britain's youngest terrorist. Hammaad Munshi was 16 when police found
a guide to death and explosives at his home. The guide contained instructions
for making napalm, other high explosives, detonators, grenades and "how
to kill". Co-defendants Aabid Khan and Sultan Muhammad were also found
guilty of possessing terror-related documents.

English
jury convicts 3 of terror offences; defendants include 1 teenager
18 Aug 2008 A British teenager and two other men have been convicted
of possessing documents useful to terrorists. They are to be sentenced
Tuesday. The prosecution says the two older men had computer files promoting
violence [!?!], documents with practical information on making
and using weapons and explosives, and one that urged assassinations.

Britain's
terror laws have left me and my family shattered --I am innocent
yet was detained without charge in solitary confinement for days on
end. By Hicham Yezza 18 Aug 2008 On May 14 I was arrested under section
41 of the Terrorism Act - on suspicion of the "instigation, preparation
and commission of acts of terrorism": an absurdly nebulous formulation
that told me nothing about the sin I had apparently committed. Once
in custody, almost 48 hours passed before it was confirmed that the
entire operation... was triggered by the presence on my University of
Nottingham office computer of an equally absurd document called the
"al-Qaida Training Manual", a
declassified open-source document... Rizwaan Sabir, a politics student
friend of mine (who was also arrested), had downloaded
the file from the US justice department website [Insert
eyeroll here.] while conducting research on terrorism for his upcoming
PhD. An extended version of the same document (which figures on the
politics department's official reading list) was also available on Amazon.

Mamdouh
Habib fined $400 for outburst
19 Aug 2008 Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mamdouh Habib has been fined
$400 for offensive language and behaviour during an incident at a McDonald's
restaurant in which police said he called them "smelly" and a "piece
of shit".

Security
officials to scan DC area license plates --Plan will be funded
by federal homeland security grants 17 Aug 2008 Homeland security
officials in the Washington area plan to dramatically expand the use
of automated license plate readers to 'prevent' possible terrorist attacks.
Officials from Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia have
agreed to install 200 license plate readers on police vehicles, at airports
and along roads.

A
Toxic Proposal --The Labor Department politicizes the regulation
of workplace health. (The Washington Post) 18 Aug 2008 For 7 1/2
YEARS, the Labor Department has neglected the workers it's supposed
to protect. Now it is rushing to make its pro-industry stand official
policy. The Post's Carol D. Leonnig reported that the Labor Department
has fast-tracked a proposal that would make it more difficult to regulate
workplace safety... The plan is an attempt by Labor's policymakers to
wrest control of the risk assessment process from scientists at the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Doing so would add another
layer to a byzantine regulatory process that would be difficult for
future administrations to untangle. It would also undermine OSHA, an
agency that already has too many procedural hurdles to clear.

Despite
Assurances, McCain Wasn't in a 'Cone of Silence' 17 Aug 2008
Senator John McInsane was not in a "cone of silence" on Saturday
night while his rival, Senator Barack Obama, was being interviewed at
the Saddleback Church in California. Members of the McCain campaign
staff, who flew here Sunday from California, said Mr. McCain was in
his motorcade on the way to the church as Mr. Obama was being interviewed
by the Rev. Rick Warren. Mr. McCain, who followed Mr. Obama’s hourlong
appearance in the forum, was asked virtually the same questions as Mr.
Obama. Mr. McCain’s performance was well received, raising speculation
among some viewers, especially supporters of Mr. Obama, that he was
not as isolated during the Obama interview as Mr. Warren implied.

Did
McCain Steal His "Cross in the Dirt" Story at the Saddleback Forum From
Solzhenitsyn? By Mark Nickolas 18 Aug 2008 The blogosphere is
abuzz right now over the discovery that a POW story told by John McCain
(R) at Saturday night’s presidential forum is eerily similar to one
told by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his famous book The Gulag Archipelago
which chronicled his time in a Soviet labor camp in the 1950s and 1960s...
What is going on here? Did McCain lie to Pastor Rick Warren in a
church this weekend about his POW experience in an attempt to kiss-up
to Evangelicals who are already very concerned about his bona fides
on faith and religion?

Obama
rips McCain for $5 million "rich" definition 18 Aug 2008 Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama ripped Republican rival John McCain
on Monday for joking during a televised discussion on values that $5
million fit the definition for being monetarily rich. "I guess if you're
making $3 million a year, you're middle class," Obama told a campaign
event in New Mexico. "That's reflected in ... his policies," Obama said,
adding McCain would give a $500,000 tax credit to people making more
than $2.5 million.

Just
Asking By Taegan Goddard 18 Aug 2008 During his weekend interview
with Rev. Rick Warren, Sen. John McCain said that if he were president
he would have never nominated Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, David
Souter or John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court. McCain wasn't a senator
when Stevens was nominated, but why did he nevertheless vote to confirm
Ginsburg, Breyer, and Souter? It seems he was for them before he was
against them.

The
Candidate We Still Don't Know By Frank Rich 17 Aug 2008 With
the exception of McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam, every aspect of this
profile in courage is inaccurate or defunct... Though the McCain campaign
announced
a new no-lobbyists
policy three months after The Washington Post’s February report
that lobbyists were "essentially running" the whole operation,
the fact remains that McCain’s top officials and fund-raisers have past
financial ties to nearly every domestic and foreign flashpoint, from
Fannie Mae to Blackwater to Ahmad Chalabi to the government of Georgia.
No sooner does McCain flip-flop on oil drilling than a bevy
of Hess Oil family members and executives, not to mention a lowly Hess
office manager and his wife, each give a maximum $28,500 to the
Republican Party. While reporters at The Post and The New York Times
have been vetting McCain, many others give him a free pass.

Obama
raises $7.8 million in San Francisco 18 Aug 2008 Barack Obama
raked $7.8 million Sunday at three separate fundraisers in San Francisco,
telling a VIP dinner crowd -- many of whom paid $28,500 to attend --
that he would win the presidency in November but to expect a tough battle
with Republicans in the meantime.

*****

U.S.
May Ease Police Spy Rules --Quietly unveiled late last month,
the proposal is part of a flurry of domestic intelligence changes issued
and planned by the Bush administration in its waning months. 16
Aug 2008 The Justice Department has proposed a new domestic spying measure
that would make it easier for state and local police to collect intelligence
about Americans, share the sensitive data with federal agencies and
retain it for at least 10 years... Under the Justice Department proposal
for state and local police, law enforcement agencies would be allowed
to target groups as well as individuals, and to launch a criminal intelligence
investigation based on the suspicion that a target is engaged in terrorism
or providing material support to terrorists. They also could share results
with a constellation of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies,
and others in many cases.

Newspaper:
Blackwater guards get target letters 17 Aug 2008 Half a dozen
Blackwater Worldwide security guards have gotten target letters from
the Justice Department in a probe of shootings in Baghdad that killed
17 Iraqis, The Washington Post reported.
The Post described the six guards as former U.S. military personnel,
but did not identify them by name.

Justice
Dept. Moves Toward Charges Against Contractors in Iraq Shooting
17 Aug 2008 Federal prosecutors have sent target letters to six Blackwater
Worldwide security guards mercenaries involved in a September
shooting that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead, indicating a high likelihood
the Justice Department will seek to indict at least some of the men,
according to three sources close to the case.

Record
number of US contractors in Iraq --Roughly $12 billion of
the $100 billion total paid for mercenaries – the gun-toting guards
of Blackwater and other paramilitary personnel providers. 18 Aug
2008 The scale of the use of CONtractors in Iraq is unprecedented in
US history, according to a new congressional report that may be the
most thorough official account yet of the practice. As of early 2008,
at least 190,000 private personnel were working on US-funded projects
in the Iraq theater, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) survey found.
That means that for each uniformed member of the US military in the
region, there was also a contract employee – a ratio of 1 to 1.

A
$100 billion bill 15 Aug 2008 Washington is headed toward another
dismal milestone in Iraq. With more than 4,000 U.S. soldiers dead and
a conflict that's outlasted World War II, now add a $100 billion bill
for private contractors by year's end. The sum pays for a shadow military
that provides security, builds bases and runs the chow line in mess
halls. The 180,000 private employees, based in or around Iraq, match
the number of American troops. The figure is a high-water mark in the
annals of privatized fighting.

Suicide
bomber attacks Baghdad checkpoint 17 Aug 2008 A suicide bomber
on a motorcycle struck a checkpoint manned by US-backed neighbourhood
guards in Baghdad today, killing 15 people and wounding at least 29,
police said. Among those killed in the attack in the mainly Sunni Arab
Adhamiya district of northern Baghdad was a leader of the neighbourhood
guards in the area, Faruq Abu Omar, police said.

Israel
source denies U.S. curbing arms sales to deter Iran strike 14
Aug 2008 An Israeli official on Wednesday denied an Haaretz report that
the U.S. had rejected an Israeli request for military equipment and
support that would improve Israel's ability to attack Iran's nuclear
facilities. The official told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the Israeli-U.S.
arms sales negotiations were being held without consideration of Iran
and thus had no bearing on the U.S.' decision to withhold arms sales.

Iran
launches satellite carrier 17 Aug 2008 Iran says it has successfully
launched a rocket capable of carrying its first domestically built satellite.
Officials said only the rocket had been fired, correcting state media
reports that the communications satellite itself had been sent into
orbit.

7,000
extra police deployed in, around Afghan capital --Roadside
bomb kills 10 Afghan police officers in Kandahar province 17 Aug
2008 Security was tightened in and around Kabul on Sunday with 7,000
additional police officers deployed ahead of Monday's 89th observance
of Afghanistan's independence [?] from Great Britain. Police were seen
at newly established security checkpoints looking at every passing vehicle
Sunday. An Interior Ministry official said it was the biggest police
operation in Kabul in several months.

US
military deaths in Afghanistan region at 500 15 Aug 2008 As
of Friday, Aug. 15, 2008, at least 500 members of the U.S. military
had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the
U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense
Department.

US,
allies contemplating action against Russia 17 Aug 2008 The White
House is struggling to figure out the best way to penalize Russia. It
doesn't want to deeply damage existing cooperation on many fronts or
discourage Moscow from further integrating itself into global economic
and political institutions. At the same time, U.S. officials say Russia
can't be allowed to get away with invading its neighbor. [What about
Iraq and Afghanistan?]

Russia
seizes US arms cache in Georgia 16 Aug 2008 A Russian military
spokesman says Russian forces have seized a large cache of US-made weapons
in the western city of Senaki in Georgia. "In Senaki, we seized a large
arsenal of weapons including 664 US-made M-16 rifles" and a number of
M-40 sniper rifles, General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told a news conference
in Moscow. "There were 1,728 weapons total," he added. Earlier on Wednesday,
US President [sic] George W. Bush sent a C-17 airlifter to deliver 'humanitarian
supplies' to Georgia.

Moscow
warns it could strike Poland over US missile shield --Russian
general threatens nuclear attack 16 Aug 2008 The risk of a new era
of east-west confrontation was heightened yesterday when Moscow reserved
the right to launch a nuclear attack on Poland because it agreed to
host US rockets as part of the Pentagon's missile shield. As [hypocritical]
Washington accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation" in Georgia
and demanded an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from the small
Black Sea neighbour, Russia's deputy chief of staff turned on Warsaw
and said it was vulnerable to a Russian rocket attack because of Thursday's
pact with the US on the missile defence project.

Alcohol
abuse rises among combat veterans: study 12 Aug 2008 A significant
number of U.S. veterans back from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan begin
abusing alcohol after returning, perhaps to cope with traumatic memories
of combat, military researchers said on Tuesday.

'Millennium
bomber' sentence tossed out by U.S. court 16 Aug 2008 A federal
appeals court Friday threw out the 22-year sentence imposed on Algerian
Ahmed Ressam for plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport
on the eve of the millennium. The three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit
Court of Appeals sent the case back to U.S. District Court in Seattle
to recalculate a sentence for his conviction on nine felony counts.
It was the second time the appellate court has scrapped Ressam's sentence.

Preparing
for an urban WMD attack By Daniel Terdiman 16 Aug 2008 On Saturday,
the San Francisco Fire Department, along with a group of other public
and private agencies, ran a large-scale training exercise revolving
around an urban weapons of mass destruction terrorist attack. Here,
an emergency worker in a full hazmat suit examines the faux chemical
that was supposedly found in the attack, which was said to be sodium
cyanide, a poison that quickly affects peoples respiratory systems.

City
defends 'secret jail' built for DNC 16 Aug 2008 Activist groups
say the converted warehouse poses a threat to civil liberties. Denver
maintains the facility is needed in case of mass arrests during the
Democratic National Convention. The makeshift holding center, dubbed
"Gitmo on the Platte" by activists, is located on city-owned
property near Steele Street and 38th Avenue. Newly-installed security
cameras guard the exterior, chain-link fences and barbed wire form cells
inside.

16
youths off Hartford, Conn., streets in sweep
15 Aug 2008 Police took 16 young people off the streets on the first
night of a curfew crackdown, officials said. The curfew in the Connecticut
capital bans anyone under 18 from loitering on the streets after 9 p.m.,
unless they are with a parent or guardian. Police have said the curfew
ordinance will be enforced for 30 days.

Activists
arrested after Hawaiian palace takeover
--Protesters calling for Hawaii's sovereignty took over historic
palace 16 Aug 2008 A group of Native Hawaiians claiming to be [are]
the state's legitimate rulers occupied the grounds of a historic palace
for two hours before being arrested by state officers in the second
recent takeover of its kind.

Bush
protesters get $50,000 settlement from state of Iowa
15 Aug 2008 Two retired school teachers who said they were handcuffed
and strip-searched during a 2004 campaign stop by President [sic] Bush
in Cedar Rapids were awarded a $50,000 state judgment, records indicate.
The State Appeal Board recently approved the out-of-court settlement
for Alice McCabe and Christine Nelson, who brought a claim against the
state Department of Public Safety after two state troopers arrested
them at a rally at Noelridge Park in Cedar Rapids on Sept. 3, 2004.

Erickson's
Cuba trip: More cigars, less charity --The congressional
hopeful's 2004 visit wasn't humanitarian, "it was a pleasure trip,"
a friend says 17 Aug 2008 Congressional candidate Mike Erickson
(R) took a six-day visit to Cuba in 2004 that he called a "humanitarian
trip" to aid disabled Cubans oppressed by Fidel Castro, but the trip
was instead a vacation that included bars, Havana cigars and the Tropicana
nightclub. Erickson said he visited a medical center, met with doctors
and attended a presentation on the plight of the disabled. But travel
documents obtained by The Oregonian, others who accompanied Erickson
and representatives of U.S. and Cuban charities tell a different story.
For example, the medical center Erickson said he visited does not exist.

Mich.,
Fla. could get full voting rights 16 Aug 2008 Last year, Michigan
and Florida Democrats were being told they would lose all their votes
at the Democratic National Convention if they moved up their presidential
primaries. Now, the same committee that stripped Florida and Michigan
of their delegates for violating party rules by holding early primaries
is poised to suggest those delegates regain their full voting powers
when the Denver convention starts in eight days.

Rep.:
Half of House Dems may vote Hillary at DNC 15 Aug 2008 Rep.
Loretta Sanchez says she’s happy for the chance to vote for Hillary
Rodham Clinton at the Democratic National Convention -- and she predicts
that as many as half of the Democrats in the House could join her. On
Friday, the Obama campaign confirmed that the floor vote in Denver will
be conducted as a state-by-state roll call.

Obama-cans
Unite 11 Aug 2008 Led by a former Bush fund-raiser and a former
U.S. Senator who bolted the G.O.P. several years ago, a group of current
and former Republicans disenchanted with Senator John McCain and supportive
of Senator Barack Obama are banding together to start a "Republicans
for Obama" effort.

Work
begins on $57 million border fence in San Diego
--Environmental groups say dirt shift threatens Tijuana River estuary,
home to more than 370 migratory and native birds 16 Aug 2008 Scrapers
and bulldozers began Friday filling a deep canyon to make way for a
border fence in the southwestern corner of the United States after 12
years of planning, environmental reviews and legal challenges. At a
cost of about $16 million a mile,
the fence will be far more expensive than fences the U.S. government
is building elsewhere along the nation's 1,952-mile border with Mexico.

L.A.,
Long Beach OK grants for Mexican carriers
15 Aug 2008 The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach boast of bringing
in 40 percent of the nation’s imported goods, and plans to cut emissions
at each port have been highlighted in mainstream news programs and the
cable TV show "America’s Port." A Land Line investigation
into the ports’ multibillion-dollar clean truck program, however, shows
that the $2.2 billion program could pay for the replacement of trucks
owned by Mexican trucking companies while it excludes U.S. trucks that
run any miles outside of California.

Fla.
Governor Declares State of Emergency
17 Aug 2008 Residents and tourists in the Florida Keys braced for Tropical
Storm Fay, which forecasters said could strengthen to a hurricane by
Sunday night and begin battering the island chain as soon as Monday.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) declared a state of emergency Saturday
because Fay "threatens the state of Florida with a major disaster,"
he wrote in an executive order.

'Gitmo
On the Platte' Set As Holding Cell For DNC 13 Aug 2008 CBS4
News has learned if mass arrests happen at the Democratic Convention,
those taken into custody will be jailed in a warehouse owned by the
City of Denver. Investigator Rick Sallinger discovered the location
and managed to get inside for a look. The newly created lockup is on
the northeast side of Denver. Protesters have already given this place
a name: "Gitmo on the Platte." Inside are dozens are metal cages. They
are made out of chain link fence material and topped by rolls of barbed
wire. Each of the fenced areas is about 5 yards by 5 yards and there
is a lock on the door. A sign on the wall reads "Warning! Electric stun
devices used in this facility."

Protesters:
Holding pens unfit for voting machines--Dozen
or so pens are made of chain link fencing with coiled concertina wire
along the top 15 Aug 2008 Convention protesters said this afternoon
that the "secret jail" the city has set up for people arrested during
the upcoming Democratic National Convention used to house the city's
voting machines until the building was declared unfit for the machines.
At a press conference in front of the holding pens the city has built
inside a dilapidated warehouse at 38th Avenue and Steele Street, protester
Glenn Spagnuolo said the city stored its voting machines there until
officials said the building was too hot for the machines and was without
a fire sprinkler system. "The city pulled its voting machines from here
because the building gets too hot. Yet now they'll put people in there
who use those machines to vote," he told a small gathering of reporters.
"There are no toilets there. There's no water, no fire suppression.
The city should be ashamed. It needs to stop criminalizing protests."

US
demands Russian troop pull-out 15 Aug 2008 US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has demanded that Russian forces withdraw from Georgia
immediately. It comes after Georgia's president signed an EU-brokered
ceasefire deal, after nearly five hours of talks. President [sic]
George W Bush has accused Russia of "bullying and intimidation", saying
it was an unacceptable "way to conduct foreign policy in the 21st Century".

Russian
military concerned by U.S. cargo flights to Georgia 14 Aug 2008
Russia's General Staff said Thursday it was concerned by the nature
of cargoes the United States was airlifting to Georgia, questioning
if they were really humanitarian aid. The U.S. sent two C-17 military
planes to Georgia late Wednesday and early Thursday as part of a Pentagon
'humanitarian' mission. In a statement Wednesday, President [sic] George
W. Bush said Washington would "use U.S. aircraft, as well as naval forces"
to distribute supplies, and demanded Russia withdraw troops from Georgia.

Chavez
accuses Bush of ordering attack on South Ossetia 15 Aug 2008
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez believes that Georgian forces launched
their attack on South Ossetia on the orders of the U.S. president [sic],
the Union radio station reported Friday. "The leadership of the U.S.,
which gives orders to Georgian authorities, is to blame for the Caucasus'
burning," began Chavez, as quoted by the Venezuelan radio station. "The
president of the U.S., the imperialist George Bush, I am absolutely
certain was the one who gave the order to Georgian forces to burn towns
and villages and to kill innocent people," he said.

US
military will stay in Georgia
18 Jan 2004 US officials
have said that their military presence in Georgia will now become permanent.
The American military has been training and equipping the Georgian army
since the spring of 2002. In 2002 the Bush administration set up an
18-month, $65m programme aimed at training and equipping Georgia's army.
The programme was part of America's war on [of] terror.

Neocon
troll confuses Blackwater with Iran: Iran
training Iraqi hit squads: US military
15 Aug 2008 Iraqi assassination squads are being trained in Iran by
the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah for attacks on specific Iraqis,
a US military official said Friday. The official, who spoke on condition
of anonymity [of course], said the Shiite "special groups" were being
trained in Qom, Tehran, Mashad and Ahvaz in assassination and bombing
techniques.

Bomb
hits Shiite pilgrims north of Baghdad; 4 dead 15 Aug 2008 Iraqi
police and hospital officials say a bomb has struck Shiite pilgrims
north of Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 40. The
officials say a minibus parked near a bus terminal in Balad exploded
Friday evening as the area was crowded with people preparing to travel
south to the holy city of Karbala.

'I
think he thinks this circus has gone on long enough.' Guantanamo
trial may proceed without defendant
15 Aug 2008 An accused al Qaeda [al-CIAduh] videographer abandoned his
hearing in the
U.S. war crimes court at Guantanamo on Friday, setting up what could
be a fast 'trial' with no defendant and no defense. Yemeni defendant
Ali Hamza al Bahlul had intended to act as his own attorney but the
judge ruled that he lost that right when he left the courtroom under
escort. Bahlul said he would boycott further proceedings and return
to hear his sentence after the trial ended, presumably with his conviction.
"I do not have any trust in this legal farce," he said through an Arabic-English
interpreter. "Continue this illegal play in any way you wish." Bahlul's
military-appointed lawyer, Air Force Maj. David Frakt, asked for a speedy
trial and said he would honor Bahlul's request to put on no defense
at all. "I think he thinks this circus has gone on long enough," Frakt
said after the hearing at the U.S. naval base in southeastern Cuba.

Alleged
al Qaida PR man: Convict me next 15 Aug 2008 An accused al Qaeda
[al-CIAduh] filmmaker with a flair for the dramatic set the stage for
the first no-contest war crimes trial Friday by declaring a boycott
until he is sentenced. ''It is a legal farce,'' Ali Hamza al
Bahlul, 39, of Yemen, told his military judge, Air Force Col. Ronald
Gregory. "You are the judge and I am the accused," he said.
"At the same time you are my enemy. We really don't accept this kind
of logic."

'Sexy'
Khadr charges meant to boost support for military --Judge
blasts prosecutors' 'glacial-like speed' at Khadr's pretrial 13
Aug 2008 Canadian Omar Khadr was among the first group of Guantanamo
Bay prisoners charged with war crimes only because his case was "sexy"
and senior U.S. administration officials believed charging Khadr would
help whip up support for the controversial military commissions set
up by the U.S. Congress to try terrorism suspects, a court here was
told Wednesday. Col. Morris Davis, the former chief prosecutor for all
military commission trials, testified that there was a sense of urgency
within the Bush administration and in senior ranks of the U.S. military
justice system to get some star trials started before the end of Bush's
term this year, on fears that the next [sic] president could end the
tribunals.

Canadian
detainee loses bid for independent exam
15 Aug 2008 A military judge on Friday denied a request for an independent
psychological evaluation of a young Canadian prisoner facing a war crimes
'trial' at Guantanamo Bay. The Army judge, Col. Patrick Parrish, said
the services of two experts requested by Omar Khadr's defense lawyers
will only be accepted if prosecutors cannot find government specialists
with similar qualifications. Khadr is scheduled to face trial in October...
At a pretrial hearing this week, defense lawyers requested funding for
two doctors with expertise in juvenile issues to examine Khadr, who
was captured at age 15.

Pentagon
official removed from 2nd Guantanamo trial 14 Aug 2008 A military
judge [Army Col. Steve Hanley] on Thursday barred a Pentagon official
from taking part in a second war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay, providing
more ammunition for detainee lawyers who allege that political interference
taints the proceedings. The ruling will fuel defense challenges in other
trials at this U.S. Navy base, where a former chief prosecutor and defense
lawyers have accused Air Force Brig Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal
adviser to the tribunals, of demanding that certain cases be pursued
over others based on political considerations.

Guantanamo
general slams bullying, 'spray and pray' approach --Gen Zanetti
accuses Gen Hartmann of having 'abusive and unprofessional' behaviour
15 Aug 2008 A US general on Wednesday accused another general of bullying
and having a "spray and pray" approach to detainees at the
US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a US daily reported. "Spray
and pray. Charge everybody. Let’s go. Speed, speed, speed," was
the method of Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, deputy prison camp
commander Brigadier General Gregory Zanetti told the hearing, the Miami
Herald said. In a rare criticism of a fellow officer, Zanetti said Hartmann’s
demeanor "as an attorney from a thousand miles away," was
"abusive, bullying and unprofessional ... pretty much across the
board".

Guantanamo
jurors disappointed convict could be held 13 Aug 2008 The military
jurors who gave Osama bin Laden's driver a light sentence want him freed
from Guantanamo once he completes it in December and were frustrated
to learn the military can hold him indefinitely, one of the panelists
said Wednesday. In an interview with The Associated Press, the juror
said the panel of six American military officers did not learn until
the trial ended on Thursday that the Pentagon retains the right to hold
Salim Hamdan as an "enemy combatant," even after he completes his sentence.
"After all the effort that we put in to get somebody a fair trial ...
and then to say no matter what we did it didn't matter -- I don't see
that as a positive step," the juror said in the telephone interview.

U.S.
court to rehear case of Canadian sent to Syria 14 Aug 2008 A
U.S. court will take the unusual step of rehearing a lawsuit it earlier
rejected from a Canadian [Maher Arar] who claims the U.S. government
sent him illegally to Syria where he was tortured for a year, lawyers
said on Thursday. In June, a three-judge U.S. appeals court panel, affirming
a lower court decision, ruled 2-1 that Arar failed to establish that
the federal court had jurisdiction to hear his complaint. But on Thursday,
that same court ordered that the case be reheard by the entire Second
Circuit Court of Appeals -- about 12 judges -- on December 9.

Attacks
on NATO patrol in Afghanistan kills 2 15 Aug 2008 U.S.-led forces
have killed more than 36 'insurgents' in a series of clashes and airstrikes
in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Friday. A militant attack
on NATO patrol killed two alliance's troops. Groups of militants began
launching attacks Wednesday on a coalition reconnaissance patrol in
the south, using rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and small arms
fire, the coalition said.

Future
wars 'to be fought with mind drugs' 14 Aug 2008 Future wars
could see opponents attacking each other's minds, according to a report
for the US military. Landmines releasing brain-altering chemicals, scanners
reading soldiers' minds and devices boosting eyesight and hearing could
all one figure in arsenals, suggests the study. "Pharmacological landmines,"
which release drugs to incapacitate soldiers upon their contact with
them, could also be developed, according to the report's authors. The
report, commissioned by the Defense Intelligence Agency... also explains
that the concept of torture could be transformed in the future.

Audio:
Pilot said unscheduled Obama landing was 'emergency' 15 Aug
2008 Control tower tapes reveal that the pilot of presidential hopeful
Barack Obama's plane told air traffic controllers there was an emergency
when he made an unscheduled landing last month in St. Louis, Missouri.
On July 7 the Midwest Airlines MD-81 made an unscheduled landing during
the flight from Chicago, Illinois, to Charlotte, North Carolina. The
owner of the plane initially said the landing was not caused by an emergency.
However the tapes, released to ABC News through a Freedom of Information
Act request, contradict that report.

Killer
had Gwatney note 15 Aug 2008 A search warrant returned to Searcy
district court today with a receipt for property taken during the search
of the Searcy home of Timothy Johnson, the suspected killer of Democratic
Party chair Bill Gwatney, provides the first indication that Johnson
might have targeted the former senator and car dealer. According to
that document, among the items seized was a note bearing Gwatney's name
and two sets of car keys from Gwatney dealerships. Also 14 weapons.

Lawsuit
Filed Against Gonzales, DOJ Officials --Lawsuit: DOJ Officials
Should be Held Accountable for Politicizing Hiring Practices 15
Aug 2008 Six attorneys rejected from civil service positions at the
Justice Department filed a lawsuit today against former Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales and three other top officials for allegedly violating
their rights by taking politics into consideration in the hiring process.
The suit is an attempt to hold
top officials accountable for the hiring scandal that ultimately
led to Gonzales' resignation last year, said Daniel Metcalfe, the attorney
for the plaintiffs who is also executive director of its Collaboration
on Government Secrecy at American University's Washington College of
Law.

Judge
bars publication of 'D.C. Madam' police photos--Judge rules
'D.C. Madam' suicide photos public 15 Aug 2008 A judge ordered Friday
that crime scene photographs taken by police during their investigation
of the suicide of Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the D.C. Madam,
are part of the public record. But Sixth Circuit Judge Linda Allan prohibited
the duplication or publication of the photos taken by Tarpon Springs
police, citing a need to balance the public’s right to know with the
privacy rights of Palfrey’s mother, Blanche Palfrey. [See: Attorney:
'DC Madam' left instructions if 'ever found dead of apparent suicide'By
Lori Price 10
Aug 2008.]

A
bit too expensive for us 14 Aug 2008 (Eagle Times) Any newspaper
that assigns a reporter to cover Senator John McCain in his bid for
the Presidency this fall better have some deep pockets. It ain't going
to be cheap. Last winter, on what we thought was an open invitation
from the McCain camp, a reporter joined him on the McCain Straight Talk
Express in Lebanon for an interview while the bus made its way to its
next campaign stop 25 miles away in Newport... Well, about a month later,
a bill arrived in the mail from McCain's financial headquarters in Virginia.
It seems the charge of riding the McCain's Straight Talk Express some
25 miles was well over $100.

Jenna
Bush Wedding Pastor Rips McCain 15 Aug 2008 ABC News: The pastor
who officiated Jenna Bush's wedding ripped into Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
on Friday for jokingly volunteering his wife last week for a beauty
pageant that often features contestants topless. "...[A]s recently as
last week I think it was, the Senator made a comment in South Dakota
regarding his wife entering some Buffalo Chips contest which is this
topless deal and if she were to enter she would probably win it and...
that's not not, N-O-T, not the type of expression that a presidential
candidate, or anyone for that matter who is a follower of the Christian
faith, ought to make," said the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell. "I don't know
if that is a perfect case in point, but it surely does help to juxtapose
the DNA of Senator Obama, if you would, versus the DNA of Senator McCain."

Obama
Faces the Smear Machine By Eugene Robinson 15 Aug 2008 Here
come the goons, right on schedule. The "author," and I use the term
loosely, whose vicious lies damaged John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign
has crawled back out from under his rock to spew vicious lies about
Barack Obama. Right-wing radio talk-show hosts are dutifully transmitting
this concocted venom. This presidential campaign has officially gotten
ugly.

Feds
reveal more evidence in Sen. Stevens case 15 Aug 2008 Federal
prosecutors offered a glimpse of previously unseen evidence against
U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens in new court filings Thursday, including allegations
that Stevens used insider help to turn a secret $5,000 investment in
a Florida condo development into more than $100,000 in quick profits.
The government also dismissed assertions by Stevens that his conduct
was shielded by the constitution as a member of Congress, citing nine
examples of Stevens' "errands" and requests involving Veco that had
nothing to do with protected lawmaking.

Groups
file elections complaint against Wal-Mart 15 Aug 2008 The AFL-CIO
and three other labor-rights groups have asked the Federal Election
Commission to investigate whether Wal-Mart Stores Inc. unlawfully pressured
employees to vote against Democrats in November because their party
would help workers to unionize. The groups say in a complaint processed
on Friday with the FEC that "there is reason to believe" Wal-Mart broke
federal election rules by advocating against Democratic candidate Barack
Obama in meetings with employees.

Ala.
county faces biggest US municipal bankruptcy 15 Aug 2008 Alabama's
largest county appears headed for the biggest municipal bankruptcy in
U.S. history, a $3.2 billion mess created by the nation's credit crunch
and a colossal, corruption-riddled sewer project. Politicians in Jefferson
County -- which includes the state's biggest city, Birmingham -- are
struggling to find a way out of the jam, but they have mostly abandoned
talk of raising taxes and fees after running into fierce opposition
at raucous public meetings.

Ocean
dead zones become a worldwide problem 14 Aug 2008 Like a chronic
disease spreading through the body, ''dead zones'' with too little oxygen
for life are expanding in the world's oceans. ''We have to realize that
hypoxia is not a local problem,'' said Robert J. Diaz of the Virginia
Institute of Marine Science. ''It is a global problem and it has severe
consequences for ecosystems.''

*****

'51
souls on board' FAA
Tapes Reveal Drama of Obama Jet Incident --Audio
Contradicts FAA Account of "No Emergency"14
Aug 2008 The incident involving Sen. Barack Obama's campaign plane last
month was much more serious than the airline or the Federal Aviation
Administration said, according to FAA control tower tapes obtained by
ABC News. At the time, an FAA spokesperson said the pilot did not declare
an emergency and the airline owner, Midwest Airlines, said
safety "was never an issue." The tapes show otherwise. Just 41 seconds
after discovering he no longer had full control of the plane's up and
down movements, the pilot told an FAA air traffic controller "at this
time we would like to declare an emergency and also have CFR [crash
equipment] standing by in St. Louis." ...Asked by the St. Louis tower
controller which runway he wanted to land on, the pilot responded, "Well,
which one is the longest?" The pilot then reported, "We have Senator
Obama on board the aircraft and his campaign." Unbeknownst to the
pilot, an emergency evacuation slide had inflated inside the tail of
the jet, affecting control cables there. As tension mounted and the
pilot rapidly descended from 32,000 feet, he was asked how many were
on the jet. "51 souls on board," he responded.

Obama
pilots asked for emergency equipment in event of crash landing
14 Aug 2008 The unexpected landing of Sen. Barack Obama's plane was
indeed an emergency despite earlier efforts to downplay the incident,
ABC News' Investigative team reported Thursday. Audio tapes of the plane
landing on July 7 in St. Louis revealed that the pilots declared the
situation an emergency. The pilots also asked that the emergency equipment
at the airport be deployed in the event of a crash landing. According
to the ABC News unit, the Federal Aviation Administration now says its
original statements were incorrect.

Navy
relieves commander of air recon squadron 13 Aug 2008 The commander
of a Navy air reconnaissance squadron that provides the president and
the defense secretary the airborne ability to command the nation's nuclear
weapons has been relieved of duty, the Navy said Tuesday. Cmdr. Shawn
Bentley was relieved of duty Monday by the Navy for loss of confidence
in his ability to command, only three months after taking the job.
Capt. Brian Costello, commander of the Navy's Strategic Communications
Wing One, removed Bentley from command, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown,
a spokesman for the Naval Air Forces. The primary duty of the squadron,
nicknamed the "Ironman," is to provide communication with ballistic
missile submarines, Brown said. It is also one of three squadrons that
provides airborne communications for the president and defense secretary
to command and control the nation's nuclear submarines, bombers and
missile silos, according to the Wing's official Web site. [See:
Minot
AFB Clandestine Nukes 'Oddities'.]

US
boasts of laser weapon's 'plausible deniability' 12 Aug 2008
An airborne laser weapon dubbed the "long-range blowtorch" has the added
benefit that the US could convincingly deny any involvement with the
destruction it causes, say senior officials of the US Air Force (USAF).
The Advanced Tactical Laser (ATL) is to be mounted on a Hercules military
transport plane. Cynthia Kaiser, chief engineer of the US Air Force
Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate, used the phrase "plausible
deniability" to describe the weapon's benefits in a briefing
on laser weapons to the New Mexico Optics Industry Association in June.
John Corley, director of USAF's Capabilities Integration Directorate,
used the same phrase to describe
the weapon's benefits at an Air Armament Symposium in Florida in October
2007. As the term suggests, "plausible deniability" is used to describe
situations where those responsible for an event could plausibly claim
to have had no involvement in it.

US
jail guards in Iraq abuse case 13 Aug 2008 Six US sailors working
as prison camp guards in Iraq face courts martial for abusing detainees
torturing prisoners, the US Navy said. Eight detainees were allegedly
sealed in a pepper spray-filled cell at Camp Bucca in southern Iraq.
And it is claimed that two detainees were beaten, although suffered
no broken bones, the US Navy said. The six sailors are charged with
assault and will face courts martial at Camp Bucca within the next 30
days, Navy 5th Fleet spokeswoman Cmdr Jane Campbell said.

FBI
to get freer rein to look for terrorism suspects 13 Aug 2008
Attorney General Michael Mukasey confirmed plans Wednesday to loosen
post-Watergate restrictions on the FBI's national security and criminal
investigations, saying the changes were necessary to improve the bureau's
ability to detect terrorists. Mukasey said he expected criticism of
the new rules because "they expressly authorize the FBI to engage in
intelligence collection inside the United States." However, he said
the criticism would be misplaced because the bureau has long had authority
to do so.

US
warns against Israeli plan to strike against Iran's nuclear facilities
--Bush was presented with list of desired military hardware 13
Aug 2008 The US has refused an Israeli request for military hardware
to assist with a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, while warning
against any such plan, according to a report today. Israel presented
its list of desired military hardware and other backup for the strike
during President [sic] George Bush's visit to Jerusalem in May, the
Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz, said.

U.S.
puts brakes on Israeli plan for attack on Iran nuclear facilities
13 Aug 2008 The American administration has rejected an Israeli request
for military equipment and support that would improve Israel's ability
to attack Iran's nuclear facilities... The Americans viewed the request,
which was transmitted (and rejected) at the highest level, as a sign
that Israel is in the advanced stages of preparations to attack Iran.

Russia:
Georgia can 'forget' regaining provinces 14 Aug 2008 The foreign
minister of Russia said Thursday that Georgia could "forget about" getting
back its two breakaway provinces, and the former Soviet republic remained
on edge as Russia sent tank columns to search out and destroy Georgian
military equipment.

Israel
predicted Georgia and Russia headed for war in 2007 14 Aug 2008
Israel decided to scale back its arms deals with Tblisi in late 2007
because it believed Georgia was heading toward an armed conflict with
Russia. The defense and foreign ministries started ordering military
exports to Georgia be cut last year, thwarting a major deal for Israeli-made
Merkava tanks.

Georgia
president denies Israel halted military aid 14 Aug 2008 Georgian
President Mikheil Saakashvili denied on Wednesday night that Israel
has suspended its military aid to the country. "I haven't heard anything
about that, and I haven't had time to think about that issue for some
days," he told Haaretz. Saakashvili said he is aware of problems with
supplying the pilotless drones that his army ordered from Israeli companies,
but not of the stopping of any other shipments of military aid.

U.S.:
Russia should face consequences for crisis --Gates rips 'aggressive
posture' in [US-backed] Georgia, says pullback apparently starting
14 Aug 2008 U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that Moscow
should face unspecified consequences for Russia's "aggressive posture"
in the crisis-addled former Soviet republic of Georgia, but that the
Pentagon does not want a new Cold War with Russia. "We have been pretty
restrained in this," Gates told reporters, but added that the conflict
could damage U.S.-Russia relations for years to come.

U.S.,
Poland Reach Agreement on Missile Defense 14 Aug 2008 The U.S.
and Poland signed a preliminary accord today that will allow for 10
U.S. interceptor missiles to be based in the eastern European country,
completing a 'defense' system that Russia opposes. The U.S. has agreed
to [bribe Poland] Polish requests including modernization of its armed
forces in exchange for the location of the missiles, Polish Prime Minister
Donald Tusk said in an interview with private broadcaster TVN24 this
evening.

Put
a fork in it, Bush. Taleban
at Kabul's doorstep13
Aug 2008 It is just an hour's drive south-west of Kabul on Afghanistan's
main highway before you start to see dramatic evidence of how the 'insurgency'
is closing in on the capital. The UN produces internal "accessibility"
maps which colour code areas by level of risk. A comparison between
2005 and June 2008 shows the dramatic deterioration of security in such
a short space of time. Almost half the country is now "extremely risky"
for UN staff - a classification that did not even appear on the map
legend three years earlier.

Briton
among three female aid workers killed in Afghanistan --Agency
halts its programme after three deaths 14 Aug 2008 A Briton was among
three women aid workers killed yesterday in an ambush by Taleban gunmen
in one of the worst attacks on foreign civilians in Afghanistan in recent
years. The body of Jacqueline Kirk and the two other women, as well
as their Afghan driver, were found riddled with bullets in the province
of Logar, about 50km (30 miles) south of the capital, Kabul.

US
terror expert points to new al Qaeda leaders [LOL! I guess
they can't keep re-killing 'al-Qaeda' number twos] 14 Aug 2008 A
noted US-based terrorism analyst has claimed that Al Qaeda [al-CIAduh]
is exploiting the recent [US-engendered] political turmoil in Pakistan
to strengthen its foothold along the country's border with Afghanistan.
He has said that al Qaeda had strengthened its safe haven in Pakistan’s
tribal areas by deepening its alliances with Pakistani militants and
pushing many elements of Pakistani government authority from the area.
[See: Musharraf
"misappropriated" US aid worth $700 M: Zardari 10 Aug 2008. See:
Al-Qaeda
No. 2 May be Injured, Possibly Re-killed --Ayman al-Zawahiri 'died'
in February 2006, but may be critically wounded or possibly re-killed.
By Lori Price 02 Aug 2008. See: Al-Qaeda
expert re-killed by CIA --Abu Khabab al-Masri 'died' in January
2006 and again on Monday. By Lori Price 30 Jul 2008.]

U.S.
court rules Saudi Arabia immune in 9/11 case
14 Aug 2008 The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, four princes and other Saudi
entities are immune from a lawsuit filed by victims of the September
11 attacks and their families alleging they gave material support to
al Qaeda [al-CIAduh], a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday. The
ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld a
2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Casey dismissing a claim
against Saudi Arabia, a Saudi charity, four princes and a Saudi banker
of providing material support to al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks.

#1
on reddit.com(14 Aug.)Exclusive:Attorney:
'DC Madam' left instructions if 'ever found dead of apparent suicide'By
Lori Price 10
Aug 200810
Aug 2008 Citizens For Legitimate Government has learned that Deborah
Jeane Palfrey's lawyer, Montgomery Blair Sibley, has intervened to stop
a lawsuit seeking to prevent the Tarpon Springs, Florida, Police Department
from releasing information requested by Sibley pertaining to the investigation
of Jeane's death. Sibley told CLG, "Jeane was very clear with me
that if she was ever found dead of an apparent suicide, I was to make
sure that all the evidence was publicly disseminated so that it could
be independently evaluated."

Hair
Samples in Anthrax Case Don't Match --Strands From Mailbox
in Princeton Are Not From Ivins, Investigators Say 14 Aug 2008 Federal
investigators probing the deadly 2001 anthrax attacks recovered samples
of human hair from a mailbox in Princeton, N.J., but the strands did
not match the lead suspect in the case, according to sources briefed
on the probe. FBI agents and U.S. Postal Service inspectors analyzed
the data in an effort to place Fort Detrick, Md., scientist Bruce E.
Ivins at the mailbox from which bacteria-laden letters were sent to
[Democratic] Senate offices and media organizations, the sources said.

FBI,
Terrorism Task Force investigating Denver hotel death 13 Aug
2008 The FBI is investigating the death of an Ottawa man in a downtown
Denver hotel room from apparent cyanide poisoning. Saleman Adbirahman
Dirie, 29, had been dead several days when he was found in a fourth-floor
room of the Burnsley Hotel on Monday morning. A container of white powder
was found near his body. A hazardous materials team removed the bottle
of white powder from Room 408. Authorities are still trying to determine
if it's cyanide. The FBI and other governmental agencies, including
the Joint Terrorism Task Force, are assisting in the investigation.
Hazardous materials assistance has included the Colorado State Patrol
and the Colorado National Guard.

No
Firm Answers in Suspected Cyanide Poisoning Death --With
DNC Less Than Two Weeks Away, FBI Joins Denver Police in Investigation
13 Aug 2008 With less than two weeks before the Democratic National
Convention comes to Denver, the city is on edge after a Canadian man
was found dead of possible cyanide poisoning in his hotel room there.
Police discovered Saleman Abdirahman Dirie's body Monday morning in
the Burnsley Hotel, about four blocks from the Colorado state capitol.
Not far from Dirie's body, investigators found a jar containing a white
powdery substance consistent with cyanide. The medical examiner's office
performed an autopsy Tuesday. The FBI joined the Denver police to investigate
the case. The city has been conducting anti-terror
drills to prepare for the more than 40,000 people expected
to flood Denver for the DNC, where Barack Obama is scheduled to accept
the party's nomination for president. [Right, it's the 'prepare for'
(Remember the 9/11 'anti'-terror drills?) that gets us every time! Hopefully,
the f*ckers won't *go live.* --LRP]

Pound
of cyanide found in room where man died 13 Aug 2008 About a
pound of highly toxic sodium cyanide was found in a hotel room where
a man's body was discovered, authorities said Wednesday. The Denver
medical examiner was still awaiting test results to determine what killed
Saleman Abdirahman Dirie, of Ottawa. Dirie's body was found Monday in
The Burnsley All Suite Hotel. Fire officials said they found a bottle
of the white powder in Dirie's room. Police said Wednesday it was cyanide.
Cyanide can be mixed with certain acids to produce extremely lethal
cyanide gas, according to the Department of Justice. Investigators have
not said how long Dirie had been in Denver or whether anyone [such as
Cheney's anthrax henchmen?] had accompanied him. [The Burnsley All
Suite Hotel is listed in the '2008
DNC Accomodations Guide' under 'Denver Hotels, Rentals, Working
Space and Temporary Headquarters for 2008 DNC visitors.' It's 1.74 miles
from Denver's INVESCO Field at Mile High, where Barack Obama is scheduled
to accept the Democratic nomination for president.]

'Authorities
haven't said why he was in Denver.' Cyanide
poisoning probed in Denver 13 Aug 2008 Denver police say they
have found no evidence of terrorism in cyanide poisoning of a visitor
[Saleman Abdiraham Dirie] less than two weeks before the Democratic
National Convention. ABC's "Good Morning America" reported Wednesday
that while investigators haven't found indications that foul play or
terrorism were involved in Dirie's death, the FBI has joined the case.
Cyanide is a fast-acting poison that can be used as an ingredient in
a chemical weapon.

Military
donations favor Obama over McCain 6-to-1
--Troops donate more campaign money to Obama than McCain, despite
McCain's military record 14 Aug 2008 U.S. soldiers have donated
more presidential campaign money to Democrat Barack Obama than to Republican
John McCain, a reversal of previous campaigns in which military donations
tended to favor GOP White House hopefuls, a nonpartisan group reported
Thursday. Troops serving abroad have given nearly six times as much
money to Obama's presidential campaign as they have to McCain's, the
Center for Responsive Politics said.

Clinton
adviser: She never pushed for convention compromise 14 Aug 2008
A source close to Hillary Clinton insists the former presidential contender
never pushed Barack Obama’s campaign to allow her supporters to place
her name into nomination at the Democratic convention, and approached
his team only when her camp grew "worried" over news that
rising resentment among her most loyal supporters might lead to chaos
in Denver.

Clinton
to get roll call at convention 14 Aug 2008 Democrats officially
will choose Barack Obama to run against Republican John McCain this
fall. But in an emblematic move meant to heal divisive primary wounds,
Hillary Rodham Clinton's name also will be placed in nomination alongside
his during the traditional state-by-state delegation roll call vote
at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Jackson
Browne Files Suit Against McCain, RNC for Copyright Infringement and
False Endorsement 14 Aug 2008 Renowned songwriter and liberal
political activist Jackson Browne has filed a lawsuit today against
Senator John McCain and the Republican National Committee in the United
States District Court in Los Angeles, California. The lawsuit stems
from a recent television commercial for Senator McCain's presidential
bid that incorporates the song 'Running On Empty,' a song written by
and famously associated with Mr. Browne, it was announced today by Browne's
attorney, Lawrence Y. Iser. In addition to a claim for copyright infringement,
the suit alleges that by using a song famously associated with Mr. Browne,
Senator McCain and the Republican Party violated the United States Lanham
Act by falsely suggesting that Mr. Browne is associated with and endorses
Senator McCain's candidacy.

Pelosi
warns Lieberman for undercutting Obama 14 Aug 2008 House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi blasted Sen. Joe LieberBush [R-Israel] on Wednesday for
making what she called "totally irresponsible" remarks about Democratic
presidential candidate Barack Obama and warned that the Senate might
retaliate by revoking Lieberman's committee chairmanship. Campaigning
for Republican John McCain in York, Pa., on Tuesday, Lieberman appeared
to question Obama's patriotism when he called the election a choice
"between one candidate, John McCain, who has always put his country
first, worked across party lines to get things done, and one candidate
that has not."

US
supreme court kicks Exxon Valdez case back to California court
-- Including interest would bring payout to nearly $1bn --San Francisco
court to determine total punitive damages 13 Aug 2008 Once again, plaintiffs
who have been waiting for a payout in the Exxon Valdez lawsuit will
have to continue their wait. The US supreme court yesterday declined
to decide whether Exxon Mobil Corp should pay interest on punitive damages,
which would nearly double the $507m award punishing the company for
its role in an oil spill that leaked 11m gallons of crude oil into the
fishing waters of Prince William Sound.

US
mission to Arctic will lay claim to gas reserves 13 Aug 2008
Canada and the US are teaming up to for a research mission to the Arctic
continental shelf as part of their [illegal] bid to lay claim to the
vast oil and natural gas reserves believed to lie beneath the Arctic
Ocean floor. A US Coast Guard cutter will set out on Thursday on a three-week
trip to map a relatively unexplored area known as the Chukchi borderland,
about 600 miles north of Alaska.

Thousands
rally to mark 'death' of Australian river 10 Aug 2008 Thousands
of people rallied in southern Australia Sunday to protest the dwindling
water levels in one of the country's greatest rivers, claiming the loss
was causing an environmental disaster. The 5,000-strong crowd gathered
near the mouth of the 2,530 kilometre (1,569 mile) Murray to hold two
minute's silence to mark the 'death' of the river, which forms part
of Australia's most important agricultural region.